The Lesser Gods of Asgard
by pinfeather
Summary: Loki's life was destroyed when he found out he was a changeling child. Years later, he turns the tables by stealing an infant from the House of Odin. And years after that, our story really begins...
1. Where in the World Is Modi Thorson?

_This is a plot bunny which was born the day I watched Thor in theaters. Since then I have been trying to write a story about a few of the lesser gods of Asgard – people like Magni and Modi. So here goes. Are you happy now, accursed plot bunny?_

PART I

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS MODI THORSON?

The door to the bedchamber drifted open silently. Loki's feet made hardly a whisper on the thick carpet as he walked across the room.

He smirked a little when he saw the crib. He leaned over the edge and looked down at the two babies inside. They were bundled up and sleeping.

"Hello, there," he whispered. "Wake up for Uncle Loki?"

They didn't wake up. He looked over at the bed, at Thor and Jane dead to the world under their piles of downy blankets.

He reached in and picked up one of the babies. It opened its eyes a little, just enough to see him. Its little red face scrunched up like a raisin and its mouth opened to scream.

"Shh-sh!" Loki rocked it back and forth inexpertly. "Don't wanna wake up Mommy and Daddy, do we?"

The baby calmed down and burrowed into his shoulder.

Loki didn't always plan his pranks. Often, they simply came to him.

One came to him now.

Quietly he moved towards the door. With his hand on the knob, he glanced back. For a minute he doubted himself. This had the makings of the best joke ever, but every joke was at _someone's _expense. Might this expense be too much?

Then he remembered. In the space of an instant, the joke moved from being a prank to being an act of sweet revenge.

It all balanced out. This was right. This was fate. The door closed behind him like a breath of air.

When Thor and Jane woke up, only one of their sons was waiting for them.

_I'm sorry to say that the prologue is very short. However, later chapters will be longer, so hang in there._


	2. A Piece of the Future

_Before we begin the actual story:_

_Fifteen years have passed since the kidnapping, and no one has found out either where Modi is or who took him. With their efforts to find their son mostly fruitless, Thor and Jane have resigned themselves to only raising their other son, Magni, and their small daughter Thrud. Some of Magni's friends are Nari, the abandoned son of Loki, Hildy, the daughter of Volstagg, and Ull, the son of Hogun and Sif. (Yes, Hogun and Sif. Just go with it.)_

_As for Loki, no one has seen him since he was effectively kicked out of all the Nine Realms at once._

-n-n-n-n-

The twin swans paddled back and forth. Sif waited near the bridge with the horses. Jane's robes spread out around her like petals as she sat in the dirt next to the well. Overhead, one of the roots of Yggdrasil sloped past.

The three Norns, Urda, Verdandi, and Skulda sat on the other side of the well and waited. They watched Jane sitting there now, and Jane sitting there years into the future, and Jane sitting there years ago.

"It's still no," said Verdandi before Jane of the present could say anything.

"My son is _missing_," Jane reminded her. "It's been fifteen years and we've searched everywhere. You're my last hope."

Verdandi sighed.

"What? Who's there?" croaked Urda.

"It's Jane again, dear!" shouted Verdandi, leaning in close.

"What?"

"JANE!"

"Oh," said Urda. "Wasn't she here last year?"

"Yes, and the year before that, and the year before th—"

"Special on tacos at Wal-Mart," said Skulda, from deep inside her hood.

"Really, Skulda? _Really_?" cried Verdandi. "I thought we'd been over this. You can't just go blurting out silly things. It ruins our reputation!"

Sif watched Jane slump in disappointment. This visit was unfolding exactly the way the last fourteen had. Sif was pretty sure she'd heard Skulda's 'taco' line at least five times before.

She waited. Next, Skulda was going to babble something about lottery numbers, whatever they were—

"And your lucky numbers are 33, 71, 42."

And Verdandi was going to jump up, and try to kick her, and miss, and kick the well instead—

"OW!"

Urda was asleep.

Jane jumped up before any more of the farce could unfold. She marched stiffly past Sif, without looking at anyone, and swung onto her horse.

"Let's go," she muttered.

Skulda stood up.

"By next year, Jane."

"What?" Jane said, pricking up her ears. Her face turned towards them and Sif saw that it was wet-streaked.

"You'll find him by next year," Skulda said, and sat down. She pulled her hood so far down that it faced the ground.

Jane leaped off the horse and ran to hug her.

"All right, all right!" Verdandi herded her off. "You still have a son waiting for you in Asgard, remember?"

"Heimdall?" Sif called. "We're ready to go."

"Thank you," said Jane, climbing back onto the horse. "Thank you so much. I promise—"

The Bifrost blasted open and, whatever she had been going to say, her words were lost.

The swans swam coolly back and forth. Urda and Verdandi slowly exchanged looks.

"Are you sure, Skulda?" Verdandi asked.

"What?" croaked Urda.

"I WASN'T TALKING TO YOU, URDA DEAR!"

"Oh. Well, why didn't you say so?"

Skulda's head turned towards them.

"Sometimes it's acceptable to let them know the future," she said in a muffled voice. "Just a little piece of it. Enough to give them hope."

"WHAT?" shouted Urda. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

-n-n-n-n-

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you!" Ull Hogunson shouted.

"_How long have they been fighting_?" screamed Hildy Volstaggsdottir.

Ull looked blankly at the carnage before them. "A few minutes?"

Hildy started to wade in.

"Oh no," Ull said. "Hildy! Stop! You'll be killed!"

Magni Thorson, Nari Lokison, and Rolfe Volstaggson were tangled together in a vicious battle. Well, Magni and Rolfe were, anyway. Magni hit Rolfe over the head with a silver platter, which broke. Rolfe fell to his knees and Magni picked him up by his hair. Nari was in the middle of trying to climb a clinging vine to safety, but it broke in his hands.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" roared Hildy.

They all froze.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, Rolfe," Hildy snapped at her brother. "I said, what's going on?"

Ull stood up on the low wall. "Rolfe called Nari a traitor."

"Nari is my cousin and I'll vouch for him," Magni said, jerking Rolfe's head back and forth.

"Put him down," Hildy said.

Magni dropped Rolfe.

"Ow! You didn't have to—"

"You are all in very big trouble!" Hildy shouted.

"Even me?" Ull asked.

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"You could have stopped the fight, and you just sat there!"

Ull looked around. He was the youngest, smallest person in the courtyard.

"I gave them discouraging looks," he said. "Does that count?"

"Am I in trouble?" asked Nari.

Hildy stared at him. He was slight and stoop-shouldered, with piercing green eyes that everyone knew he'd gotten from Loki.

"I'll decide later," she said. "Rolfe, let's go home."

"But—"

"NOW."

As Rolfe stood up to leave, Jane and Sif's horses came trotting into the courtyard. Jane swung off hurried to embrace Magni. He grimaced as she kissed him quickly on the cheek.

"What's going on?" he asked, wiping his face off on his sleeve.

"Good news, this time," she said. "Come on, I want to tell the whole family together."

Sif looked down at Ull.

"Was there a fight?" she asked.

"Yes, mother. I, uh . . . watched. From a distance."

Jane was almost skipping as she entered the throne room. Magni followed at a safe distance.

The room was filled with Thor's advisors, and people who had come to make their petitions. Thor sat in the huge golden throne in full ceremonial armor. He was only half-listening to the petitions, as he was also busy fussing over Thrud. At two, she was already daddy's little girl.

Jane waited eagerly in the doorway until the petitioners filed out. Then she bounded through the door and flung herself into Thor's arms.

He laughed. Thrud reached out to grab Jane's hair.

"So what's going on?" Magni asked. Behind him, Nari sidled into the room. The guards glanced warily at him before going back to what they were doing, which was standing motionless and staring stiffly ahead.

"We'll find Modi by next year," Jane said. "The Norns told me."

Thor straightened up. "I'll send out new search parties—"

"I can help," Nari said in a small voice.

All the heads in the room snapped towards him.

"I . . . I can do a finding spell," Nari said shyly.

Thor was silent. His face was uncertain.

He trusted Nari—mostly. He and Jane had raised him for most of his life. Nari's father had been permanently exiled from Asgard years ago, his mother Sigyn had wandered off in a heartbroken haze to look for him, and his older brother Vali had joined the forces against Asgard with nary a look back. Nari had no one else.

"Maybe later," Thor said.

"Yes," Jane added. "We'll try the normal tactics first."

Nari nodded and sank into Magni's shadow.

"Did the Norns say anything else?" Magni asked.

"No," Jane said. "That was all."

"Mommy!" said Thrud.

-n-n-n-n-

_And with that you have met most of our main characters. Tune in next time to see Magni talk his friends into something monumentally stupid._


	3. Jotun

_I'd like to thank Pearl Maiden, Imperial Dragon, and silver colour for reviewing. One note: I'm not sure if I made the age of the characters clear, but Magni is fifteen and Nari and Hildy are both around his age. Ull is a few years younger, about twelve. Their ages aren't really important to the story, though._

-n-n-n-n-

"Nari. Nari!"

Magni caught up with him in the middle of the hall. "Nari, can you do that finding spell?"

"They said not to," Nari said.

"They said to do it _later_," Magni corrected him. "And it _is _later."

"That's not what they meant."

"Come on, Nari, do it for Modi."

"Do what for Modi?" asked Ull, popping up out of nowhere.

They both stared at him.

"Can you please stop doing that?" Nari said.

"Doing what?"

"Coming into conversations out of nowhere like that," Magni explained. "You're being nosy."

"Sorry, then. So what are you doing for Modi?"

Nari reached his room and swung the doors open. "I'm going to do a finding spell."

Magni grinned triumphantly and they followed him inside.

Nari filled a bowl with water and set it on a low table. He murmured over it, trailed his fingers through it.

Magni leaned over, trying to see into the water. Ull pulled him back.

"Don't do that!" he hissed. "You might mess it up!"

Magni looked down at little Ull, and considered swatting him aside. He didn't, though.

Nari sat back, a glow fading in his eyes. He looked dazed.

"I found him," he said.

"Where is he?"

"Jotunheim."

-n-n-n-n-

"We can go to Jotunheim ourselves and get him," Nari said. He was running around in a frenzy, setting up some kind of new spell.

"I can't go to Jotunheim," Magni said, a little alarmed. "My parents would never let me."

"And Heimdall will never let us across the Rainbow Bridge," Ull said wistfully.

"That's why we're making our _own _Rainbow Bridge," Nari said cheerfully. His hands flew.

"I think this is a bad idea," Ull said firmly.

The door flew open.

"What are you doing?" Hildy demanded.

The three boys groaned in dismay.

"Just go away, Hildy," Magni pleaded.

"What are you _doing_?" Hildy took a step into the room and bumped into the table, upending Nari's bowl of water.

"Please don't do that!" Nari cried.

"What . . . are . . . you . . ." Hildy began menacingly.

"We're going to Jotunheim," Magni said quickly. "Now go away."

Hildy stood blinking silently.

"I'm not going away," she said. "I'm coming with you."

Magni and Nari both groaned again. Ull ducked out through the door.

Hildy placed her hands firmly on her hips. Her chin jutted out. "Either I'm coming with you or I'm getting the guards. How come Heimdall hasn't caught you yet?"

"My magic," Nari admitted.

"Ooh, he won't like that."

"I know."

Ull came back in, looking pleased and very warm. He was wearing a huge furry coat and a ridiculous tasseled hat, and carrying his skis under his arm.

"I'm ready!"

"I thought you said this was a bad idea!" Nari said.

"I know, but I don't want to miss anything."

"Then let's go," Magni said. "Goodbye, Hildy."

"Either we all go or we all stay," Hildy said insistently.

"Fine. Nari, get her eaten by an ice bear or something."

"She'll come back to haunt you," Nari said.

"I most certainly will." Hildy jabbed a finger at him.

"Are we going or not?" asked Ull.

Everyone looked at each other silently. Then Magni, Hildy, and Nari almost knocked each other over in their haste to get to the coat rack.

-n-n-n-n-

On Jotunheim:

"Fasolt, kill it!"

Sfiera raced through the snow, herding the single wounded caribou along. She muttered a spell under her breath. The caribou banked to avoid a group of vicious-looking jotun warriors, who sprang up from the ground. The warriors disappeared a second later in a puff of icy air. It didn't matter, because the caribou was already running in the direction Sfiera wanted it to—straight into Fasolt's arrows.

But Fasolt wasn't shooting any arrows.

"Fasolt!" wailed Sfiera. "Now! Now now now!"

Fasolt was fumbling at his arrows. He dropped one of them and bent to pick it up.

"Bragmir!" Sfiera called. She could see him standing on top of the nearby hill. It would be so easy for him to throw something, a knife or a rock . . .

. . . except that Bragmir never carried weapons. Drat.

"Come on, Fasolt, it's an easy shot!" Sfiera shouted.

The caribou raced away and was gone. A fresh flurry of snow covered the blood trail.

Fasolt groaned and flopped down. Sfiera stood over him, clamping down her anger.

"How's your arm?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"I can't shoot," he whimpered.

Bragmir came sliding down the edge of the hill. "I saw which way it went!"

"Doesn't matter," Sfiera grunted. "None of us are in any shape to hunt. I don't know _why _I said I'd bring you along!"

Actually, she did. She'd felt sorry for her friend. She didn't feel sorry anymore, though—not after he'd managed to stampede the caribou herd they'd been following. The only caribou they'd wounded had just gotten away.

Bragmir's face fell. "Sfiera, I'm sorry about the stampede."

"I got _run over_!" Fasolt shouted, brandishing his bandaged arm.

"And I lost my best knife," Sfiera added. "Now we don't have any meat to bring home. If you would just get used to the idea of hunting and learn to carry some weapons—"

Bragmir looked down at his bare feet.

He had always been a bit weird. Neither Sfiera nor Fasolt were very tall for Jotun, but they still dwarfed six-foot-tall Bragmir. He was always chilly. And he couldn't bear weapons or the sight of blood—not a good trait for anyone from a tribe that hunted for food.

"We'd better get back," Sfiera muttered, trying to curb her tongue.

They shuffled dejectedly across Jotunheim. At one point they could see, on the other side of a canyon, a pair of huge caribou being slaughtered by frost giants. It was a group of hunters from their village—led by that cursed Gilling. Sfiera's stomach clenched. She remembered him taunting her, telling her that she should stay home and work with the other women, telling her that she would never be any good at hunting. 

Well, Gilling, you were right. I congratulate you so _very_ much. You may thank Bragmir.

-n-n-n-n-

Magni, Hildy, and Ull stood on the edge of a precipice and craned their necks to see.

"It's a bunch of frost giants," Magni muttered.

"Modi's with them," said Nari.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"But there aren't any Asgardians down there," Hildy pointed out.

Nari took a deep breath. "Modi's been enchanted."

There was a pause.

"Enchanted to look like a frost giant?" Magni asked.

Hildy slapped him across the arm in annoyance. "No, enchanted to look like a pixie, idiot." She turned to Nari. "Why didn't you tell us this?"

"It didn't seem important."

"Right, then," Ull said. "So we get him back, un-enchant him—"

"It's 'disenchant,'" Hildy said. "Disenchant him."

"—and that's it?" Ull said.

"Yes," Nari said.

"Oh, that's easy, then," Magni said.

"Not really," said Nari. "It sounds pretty hard to me."

"How do we get down from here?" asked Magni. He sat down and dangled his feet over the ledge.

"We'll have to climb slowly—"

"I think I'm slipping," Magni said.

"Get back here!" Nari shouted, and reached out for him.

The ledge collapsed.

-n-n-n-n-

Sfiera heard a low rumble from the mountaintops and looked up to see snow cascading towards them.

"Avalanche," she said numbly, not grasping the idea yet.

Across the canyon, the other hunting party heard the noise and saw the approaching wave of snow. They grabbed up their packs of meat and abandoned the carcasses.

"Get to the village!" Sfiera hissed loudly. She pushed Bragmir ahead—he was the smallest and weakest, after all—and ran.

-n-n-n-n-

The snow rolled to a stop after only a few yards. Magni looked up, grinning nervously.

"It stopped," he said unnecessarily.

They all gulped back terror and relief.

"Don't ever do that again," Nari scolded.

Magni began to stand up experimentally. The mini-avalanche had cleared away much of the surface snow.

Something had been lying underneath the snow, half-frozen. Now it sat up on its hind legs and shook its head.

Its furless skin was gray-blue. Its huge, beaklike mouth gaped open in a yawn.

Magni backed away, eyes wide.

Its head shot towards him. Its pupils narrowed. It dropped to all fours and growled.

"Um," said Magni. "What is tha—"

The thing charged.

-n-n-n-n-

Sfiera peeked out from behind a large rock. She pushed Fasolt and Bragmir back.

"Ooh, lucky them," she said when she saw the frantic little Asgardians. "They didn't start an avalanche. They woke up an ice beast."

"Think we should help?" asked Fasolt.

"Oh, the ice beast seems to be handling things just fine," Sfiera said, laughing silently.

-n-n-n-n-

Everyone was tumbling down the steep slope of the mountain. Magni tried to fight off the ice monster as they fell, but it was everywhere with that huge beak. It clamped onto his arm and he tried in vain to shake it off.

He caught a glimpse of Hildy falling fiery, red hair and red coat marking her out against the white landscape. Ull sailed by, somehow remaining upright and managing to ski. To _ski_. Another time, Magni would have stopped and stared, but he wasn't really in a position to do so just now.

They were falling and rolling and tumbling, for a long time—and then the slope evened out and they were bouncing into deep, level snow. The ice beast threw Magni up in the air, shook him, tried to beat his brains out with its beak. He found his feet and struck out at it with his fists. He rolled away before it could trample on him.

Nari was shouting somewhere, some kind of spell. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to be working—

Cracks spread along the ice. The ground crumbled under the ice beast's feet and it went sailing down into oblivion.

Magni looked at Nari, standing covered in snow not too far away, and grinned. He started to take a step.

There was a suspicious creaking noise, a crackling. He looked down at the cracks lacing the ice.

He swallowed.

The world collapsed.


	4. Shattering the Ice

_**Magni: **__Ahem. We would like to thank all the nice people who reviewed—_

_**Nari: **__Except for you, Imperial Dragon! How dare you insinuate that I am less than adequate in my skills of sorcery? I excel in my magical studies and—_

_**Hildy: **__*snickers*_

_**Magni: **__Ahem!_

_**Nari: **__Stop laughing at me!_

_**Magni: **__Sorry, he's sensitive. Let's move on to the story. When we had last left our hero (who was me), he was on Jotunheim searching for his long-lost brother and the world had collapsed underneath him . . ._

-n-n-n-n-

All right, technically the world did not collapse—it just felt like that to Magni. To his friends close by and to the ice giants slightly less close by, the world of Jotunheim went on as usual. It just went on without Magni.

Nari flung himself on his stomach and crawled across the ice, trying to get close to the shattered hole. He had to pull back before it collapsed under him as well.

"Magni?" Ull called. His face was as white as the surrounding snow. "Magni, can you hear us?"

"He can't be gone," muttered Nari.

-n-n-n-n-

Sfiera didn't notice that Bragmir had left until she saw him picking his way across the ice.

"Bragmir!" she hissed. "Get back here!"

"Here he goes," Fasolt muttered.

-n-n-n-n-

Hildy jumped back when she saw the frost giant. She felt subtly disappointed as her nerves settled. Weren't jotun supposed to be taller?

Bragmir let his instincts guide him across the ice. Moving low, keeping steady, feeling the ice move before it did.

He reached the edge of the pit and leaned over the edge.

Then he jumped through.

Sfiera made a frightened little noise deep in her throat. She had leaped to her feet and was halfway to the Asgardians before she realized it.

-n-n-n-n-

The edge of Magni's coat had caught on a jagged piece of ice. He dangled, trying to reach out for support. He heard voices calling his name, but his voice seemed to be frozen.

He looked down at the world under Jotunheim. Icy stars, and silent, black depths, and the tendrils of the roots of Yggdrasil. Svartalfheim hovered, Niffleheim and Hel, and in the distance, fiery Muspelheim.

Ice scraped, whispering, on snow. He looked up with a start (setting him swinging back and forth, to his dismay) and saw a frost giant creeping towards him upside down.

At any other moment in his life, Bragmir would have stopped in awe and simply hung there and watched the cosmos. Right now he focused on finding the right handholds and reaching out for the edge of the Asgardian's coat.

The ice splintered.

Bragmir made a desperate grab for the coat.

A scream ripped itself out of Magni's throat as he fell.

-n-n-n-n-

They all heard the faint scream and stiffened.

"What have you done?" hissed the frost giantess, scrambling towards them, all round red eyes. Another frost giant appeared from behind a large rock.

Hildy clasped her hands over her mouth. Nari's face was shining wet.

"That was Magni," whispered Ull.

"Bragmir!" cried the giantess desperately. "_Bragmir_!"

A blue hand reached up out of the pit, and clung to the ice.

The giantess' terror vanished, replaced by tearful annoyance. She strode forward and caught the hand, pulling Bragmir up onto safe ground—and Magni with him.

As soon as he reached firm ice, Magni collapsed and curled up into a ball.

"Never again," he mumbled. "I hate snow."

Hildy laughed and bowled him over in a bearhug. Ull joined in. Nari had fainted dead away.

Fasolt caught up and swatted Bragmir. "What did you do that for?"

"We should dig through the world more often," Bragmir said. "The stars are amazing."

"You and your stars," muttered Sfiera. "Now, let's go home."

Magni rubbed snow in Nari's face until he spluttered and pushed him off.

"I'm all right," Nari snapped, sitting up. "I see everyone's back on firm ground where they belong."

Bragmir paused and looked back at the Asgardians. His yellow eyes were puzzled.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" he asked.

Nari muttered something. All three jotun collapsed. Fasolt immediately began to snore.

Nari bent over Bragmir. "This is him."

He glanced at his companions. "What's wrong?"

They gaped at him.

"You just knocked them all out," Hildy said.

"_That's _Modi?" Ull said disbelievingly.

"What do we do now?" Magni asked.

Bragmir groaned and tried to sit up. "Ow. What'd you hit me with?"

"A sleeping spell," Nari said brightly. "Listen, we want you to come back to Asgard with us."

"No."

"All right then." Nari muttered the same spell under his breath. Bragmir immediately resumed a horizontal position.

"We can't kidnap him!" Ull wailed.

Magni was inspecting Bragmir's face. "He looks nothing like me."

"That's because he's enchanted," Nari said.

"How do you know he's the right person?" Hildy demanded. "We're committing an act of war. Do you realize how this will turn out if he's not really Modi after all?"

"He's Modi," Nari said confidently. "Now, we have two options. We can leave him here with the jotun, or we can take him home and solve this whole problem right now. We'll just get rid of the enchantment and life will be as it should be."

"And people will like you?" Magni said.

Nari was quiet for a minute. Then he heaved a sigh.

"Fine," he said. "Let's be honest. Yes, this is about me. I just want to prove . . . well . . ."

"We all know you aren't a traitor, Nari," Ull said.

"So what are we going to do?" Magni asked.

-n-n-n-n-

Bragmir woke up with a start. He was in a dark, steaming-hot place. He got up, stumbling, and slammed into a wall.

Someone held up a torch. The temperature ratcheted up.

"What's going on?" rasped Bragmir. "Where am I?"

Two of the Asgardian kids looked down at him from a set of stairs. They looked worried.

"Greetings," said one. "I'm Nari. This is Magni."

"Hi," said Magni.

"'Hi?'" Nari repeated skeptically.

"It's a Midgardian term of greeting," Magni said sheepishly.

"You're in one of the cellars of Bilskirnir," Nari said with a quick change of subject.

"That would be my house," Magni said.

"Why have you brought me here? I _helped _you!" Bragmir realized to his alarm that the Anger was rising inside him again. He forced it down, clenched his fists against it, closed his eyes to ward it off, made himself small.

"We know," Nari said.

"Thank you," Magni said.

"We want to help you," Nari went on quickly, elbowing Magni. "Um . . . what are you called?"

Bragmir wiped sweat off his forehead.

"Bragmir."

"That's it?"

"Yes."

"Who are your parents?"

"Jarnsaxa is my mother," Bragmir said wearily. "My father is . . . dead."

"Um . . . so you know them, I mean knew them," blundered Nari. "I mean . . ."

"You have a family," Magni said.

"Yes," snapped Bragmir. "Yes, my tribe is my family, and I would like to go back to it now."

The Anger was crawling through him. He was inches from letting it out and letting it have its way, letting it tear and kill . . .

"Will you just tell him?" Magni asked Nari.

"I'm trying to break it gently. Bragmir, do you know what foster parents are?"

Magni broke in. "We think—Nari thinks that you're actually an Asgardian under an enchantment."

It was all too ridiculous. Laughter bubbled up from Bragmir's stomach. He doubled over, and laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

Magni and Nari exchanged glances.

"I think he's in shock," Nari said.

"No," said Magni. "I think he just thinks we're crazy."


	5. A Matter of Diplomacy

_Magni: And once again we must thank everyone who reviewed. That would be Imperial Dragon and Resisting the Borg._

_Hildy: I think we should get more reviews._

_Nari: What's wrong with having just two? The story isn't very long yet. I'm sure once a few more chapters are up—_

_Hildy: I think we should get more reviews! All right, where's Ull? Ull, you're going to get your own Fanfiction account and start adding reviews—_

_Magni: That's cheating._

_Hildy: No, it's not!_

_Magni: The author won't like it._

_Hildy: Yes, she will!_

_Magni: No, she won't._

_Nari: Stop it, both of you. ACTION!_

-n-n-n-n-

Thrud pushed Thor's helmet up on her head and smiled wetly.

"Oo's daddy's little girl then?" Thor tickled her playfully. She giggled. "Oo's—"

One of the advisors peeked through the door. "Sire, Prince Geirmarr of Jotunheim is here with a complaint. Should I tell him to come back at naptime?"

"_Jotunheim_?" Thor sat up straight, almost knocking Thrud off his lap. He steadied her and scowled over her head. "This isn't about the Valkyries again, is it? Brunnhilde swore she'd make sure the horses weren't fed before airborne patrols—"

"No, sire. Apparently Asgardians have trespassed on Jotunheim and kidnapped a young frost giant from one of the wandering tribes."

Thor went very still. He gently lifted his helmet off Thrud's head and set it back in place.

"Send Prince Geirmarr in," he said.

A huge frost giant marched in, followed by a small herd of his companions. Two of them had the look of soldiers about them, nervous at having to give up their weapons. There was an old man leaning on a staff, and a woman, and a boy and a girl. Their red eyes were fierce as the advisor announced them.

"What your people have done is an act of war," Prince Geirmarr said without preamble.

"What exactly are you talking about?" growled Thor.

Geirmarr nodded to the boy and the girl. It was the girl who stepped forward and raised her head defiantly.

"A group of Asgardians came into Jotunheim and awakened an ice beast. My friend, Bragmir, saved one's life. They knocked us out and when we woke, they had taken Bragmir."

"What proof do you have of this?" Thor asked.

The girl's eyes shifted. Then, slowly, she held up a scrap of red material. It could have been torn from anything, really.

"One of them, the one Bragmir saved, caught his cloak on the ice," she said.

"Asgard is not the only place where people wear red cloaks," Thor said, tired. "Besides, I think someone would have noticed a frost giant being bundled through the streets."

"It's the size, you see," the advisor pointed out, helpfully. Thor stared him into silence.

"Bragmir's very small for his age," said the woman, speaking up suddenly. She lowered her eyes shyly once she realized she'd spoken out loud.

"Why are all these people here?" Thor asked.

Geirmarr cleared his throat. "These are Sfiera and Fasolt, Bragmir's hunting companions, and Jarnsaxa, his mother." He pointed to the old man. "Grundoth is the tribe elder."

"Bragmir could be in terrible danger," Jarnsaxa said in a quick, nervous voice. "He's very small, as I said, and he doesn't carry weapons. He's a good boy, very quiet, likes to watch the stars—he doesn't like confrontations, he goes off to be alone quite a lot—"

"Jarnsaxa," Geirmarr said sharply. She went quiet.

"Is Bragmir's father here?" Thor asked.

"No, sire," Jarnsaxa whispered, once Geirmarr had given her a nod. "His father died while he was an infant, and he and my new husband are very distant—"

"Jarnsaxa," Geirmarr barked. "You do not have to give the Asgardian king _quite _so much information."

"Sorry, your highness."

"What's your name? Sfiera," Thor said. "Would you know the kidnappers if you saw them again?"

She nodded, eyes narrowed.

"All right. I'll have my guards search—"

The door opened. Ull peeked in.

"There's one of them," Sfiera said, pointing.

Ull's eyes widened and he slammed the door shut.

"Will someone bring him back?" Thor asked. A minute later, a struggling Ull was being dragged back into the courtroom.

"I recognize him," Sfiera said smugly. "I'd recognize him anywhere, even without that silly tasseled hat."

Thor put his head in his hand.

"Ull Hogunson," he muttered. "Would you care to explain exactly what's going on?"

Ull hemmed and hawed.

"Well, Nari wanted to look for Modi, and so did Magni, and Hildy said she had to come along or she'd turn us all in, and why do all these names ends with –i? Nari, Modi, Magni, Hildy—my mouth is starting to vibrate—"

Thor held up a hand for him to stop. "Ull, did you kidnap a frost giant?"

"N-n-n-nooo . . ."

"Yes," Sfiera said. "Yes, he did."

"He's not really a frost giant . . ." Ull said, shuffling. "At least, Nari says he isn't."

"So Nari's at the root of all this?" Thor groaned. This was only going to make things worse for Nari.

"Da!" shouted Thrud, distracting him for a minute.

"Where is Bragmir?" Sfiera demanded.

Ull sauntered back and forth. "Um . . . you could ask Magni . . ."

-n-n-n-n-

Magni tiptoed into the throneroom. Either someone had found out about this business with the frost giant, or he was being introduced to yet another potential future queen. He wasn't sure which would be worse.

Nari and Hildy lagged behind him.

"What if Bragmir gets out?" Hildy asked.

"Magni made a barricade," Nari said.

"I used the biggest chest of drawers I could find," Magni said. "And I filled all the drawers with rocks. No one is getting in or out of that cellar."

The doors of the throne room swung open before them. It was filled with frost giants.

"Oh, nooo," moaned Nari, and tried to turn around.

Hildy shoved him inside. "Come on, we're all getting in trouble for this together."

"You wanted to see me, father?" Magni said sweetly as they edged past the frost giants.

"You _kidnapped _a _frost giant_?" thundered the king of Asgard. He was standing up and pacing the length of the dais. Thrud was sitting in the throne alone. That was a bad sign.

Ull waved sheepishly at them. "Sorry."

"Not exactly," Magni began.

Nari shoved past him. "Yes, your majesty, it was all my fault and I should be duly punished and everyone else had nothing to do with—"

"Well, a little bit," Magni amended. "We had a little bit to do with it."

"That wasn't what I meant by getting in trouble together," Hildy said.

"That was an act of war!" Thor shouted.

"It doesn't count," Nari said.

"Of course it counts!"

"He's not a frost giant."

"Oh, if you want to get _technical _about it," Fasolt broke in, "he's sort of a midget, but he's still taller than your little friend with the skis."

Ull looked around thoughtfully and said, "Hey . . ."

"You are in more trouble than you'd ever dreamed. Your recklessness—" Thor's face was red from shouting. The sky outside was beginning to cloud over, and lightning was flickering in the distance.

"Bragmir is Modi!" Nari yelled.

There was a pause.

"Excuse me, what?" said Geirmarr.

"Bragmir is an Asgardian," Nari said, more calmly but still slightly flustered. "He was kidnapped as a baby and transformed into a frost giant."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," Sfiera said. "Fasolt and I grew up with him. He's a perfectly normal—sort of normal—um—not really that normal— . . . He's a frost giant. What else would he be?"

"I'm sorry, I thought you said Modi," said Thor, who was starting to see little black dots at the edges of his vision.

"I did say Modi," Nari said.

"That's impossible," Geirmarr said, turning to Jarnsaxa. "You birthed him, did you not? Explain to these children why they are mistaken."

Jarnsaxa hesitated. Her scarlet eyes flickered back and forth.

Geirmarr's face slipped into a scowl.

"Is Bragmir your son or not?" he growled.

There was another pause, long, weighty, full of round eyes and breathless silence.

"No," Jarnsaxa said slowly.

Nari turned to give his friends a relieved smile.

"He's Loki's son," Jarnsaxa said.

-n-n-n-n-

_Hildy: Hah! Cliffhanger! How do you like that, potential reviewers?_

_Magni: Hildy, can we talk? You see, the author is writing this story because she likes doing it, not because she wants reviews. Getting attention is not her goal._

_Hildy: Well, _I _want reviews! Where's Ull? Come here, Ull. What we're going to do is, we're going to find the author's password, access her account—_

_Magni: Ugh. Sorry, everyone._


	6. God of Anger

_Thank you, Imperial Dragon and silver colour, for reviewing. Unfortunately, my characters cannot be here in the author's note to greet you. I will not let them back in until they apologize for some unwise actions they took the other day with regards to my literary privacy._

(Me: What are you all doing at my computer? Is that my FANFICTION ACCOUNT!)

_Fortunately, having only been exposed to one computer in her entire life, Hildy was not quite as computer-literate as had previously been believed._

(Hildy: WHAT IS A SCROLL AND WHY ISN'T IT GOING DOWN?)

_There will be no more review-mongering. Now, **back to the story.** _

-n-n-n-n-

"Come on," Bragmir muttered, pushing the door. It wouldn't open. He tried pulling—that didn't work either. He'd heard them lock and barricade the door earlier.

He rested his head against the door, trying to think.

The Anger coiled inside him, a huge snake trying to find its way out.

"Oh, no, you don't," he muttered to it. He started feeling along the walls, looking for another door, another way out . . .

-n-n-n-n-

The temperature plummeted at the mention of Loki's name. Jarnsaxa didn't care.

"He's Loki's son," she insisted. "Loki brought him to me and asked me to take care of him."

Geirmarr sighed and looked at Thor sitting sprawled on the steps of the dais.

"May I join you?" he asked, and then sat down with a thud, cradling his head in his hands.

"My son died a few days after my husband," Jarnsaxa said. "I was all alone. Was it wrong of me to take Bragmir in? I don't think so—"

Magni and Nari exchanged glances. Nari gave the subtlest shake of his head.

Hildy rolled her eyes and left.

"But Bragmir didn't act like a Lokison," Fasolt said, rubbing his forehead. "He had no sense of humor . . ."

"_No one _thinks your jokes are funny, Fasolt," Sfiera reminded him.

"Hey!"

"This is turning out to be a really bad day," Thor muttered.

"I know," Geirmarr said.

Hildy poked her head through the door. "Your majesty, what's Modi the god of?"

"Oh, I don't know," Thor said, irritated.

"It was anger," piped up one of the advisors, unfolding a copy of the family tree. "God of anger."

"Right, thanks," said Hildy, disappearing again.

-n-n-n-n-

Hildy unlocked the door and pulled it open just a crack. She couldn't open it any father, since it slammed into the chest of drawers. The cellar inside was dark.

"Uh . . . Bragmir?"

"What do you want?" Bragmir asked tightly.

"Listen, I'm sorry we put you in the cellar, but— Are you Loki's son?"

"No."

"What was your father's name?"

"Skrymir."

"And he died when you were a baby?"

"Yes. Why are you asking all these—look, you do realize your friends are crazy? They think I'm an Asgardian."

"Your mother's here, Bragmir."

"What? Let me out of here!"

"Sorry, barricade's too heavy."

Inside the cellar, Bragmir strangled a scream.

"What?" Hildy called.

"Get me out!" he yelled, rage lacing his words. He was losing control. He had to—had to—

"First of all," Hildy said, "I do not allow people to yell at me. Secondly, even if I did—"

Bragmir lost it.

"MOVE!"

Before Hildy could move, he charged up the stairs. The Anger shot through his body. His eyes began to glow red, and the thick door splintered under the force of his blows. He made it through the door in seconds, and Hildy had to scamper to get out from beneath the tilting chest of drawers. The drawers spilled open and stones flew everywhere in a miniature avalanche.

-n-n-n-n-

"All right, everybody," Thor said with a wave of his hand. "I have a very bad headache, so we're going to try to resolve this matter quietly. Magni, will you take some guards and retrieve Bragmir from wherever you've put him?"

"The cellar," Magni said.

Thor half-sat up. "Not the wine cellar?"

"No, father, one of the empty ones."

"Oh, good." Thor lay back on the steps.

"What about the act of war, your highness?" Sfiera asked Geirmarr insistently.

"I'll deal with it later," he said. "I'm having a hard enough time with your jotun-turned-Asgardian-turned-Lokison already. He must be a joy to have around."

As Magni reached out for the door, it swung open and Hildy marched in. Her nose was bleeding.

"God of anger," she said. "Exactly."

"Um, Hildy—" began Magni.

"Bragmir's tearing up the walls," she said, and sat down heavily on the steps.

"You must not have very well-built walls here," Sfiera said.

The guards exchanged glances and rushed out.

-n-n-n-n-

The walls of Bilskirnir were, in fact, extremely well-built. Bragmir still went through them as if they were snow.

Jane was sitting with her laptop in front of her, in one of the big sunny rooms. (When she'd moved to Asgard she'd insisted that Thor's palace be fitted out for WiFi.) She heard the noise and minimized the page she'd been working on, standing up cautiously.

She opened the door in time to see one of the guards go sailing past. She pulled back as his helmet bounced after him like an obedient metal puppy. Very matter-of-factly, she got one of the decorative swords off its stand by the window, and proceeded out into the hall.

There was a very short frost giant knocking the guards back and forth. Their weapons had no effect on him—when they touch him, they either bounced off or broke.

Jane sighed. Then she took a second look.

The jotun's eyes were a funny shade of red. Of course, all frost giants had red eyes, but these eyes were an unusually deep shade—and they were glowing.

Jane had seen eyes like that before—when gods went into the battle rage and became berserkers. Berserkers were unstoppable. No matter how sweet and calm they might be normally, once they got angry, they cared only about killing.

He dropped the last of the guards and turned towards her, scowling.

She slowly put down the sword and held her hands up in surrender.

"Okay," she said. "You win. No more fighting."

He stared at her, unreasoning.

"You can calm down now." She made her voice as soothing as she could. She pretended she was trying to coax Thrud to sleep. "I'm not going to hurt you."

His eyes were orange now.

"Atta boy," Jane said.

He closed his eyes and rubbed a hand across his forehead, as if tired.

"Oh, no," he mumbled. He looked down in alarm at the guards lying crumpled on the ground. When he looked back up, his eyes were yellow and teary.

"I'm sorry—" he began.

Mjollnir shot past, grazing the back of his head. He staggered and the hammer continued over Jane's head. She ducked. The hammer twirled at the end of the hall, and shot back overhead—Jane and the frost giant both ducked. Jane knew before she looked up that it had landed safely back in Thor's hand.

The frost giant rubbed the back of his head irritably and said, "Ow."

-n-n-n-n-

Jane stood very still after Nari told her who he thought Bragmir was.

"Um, Aunt Jane? Your majesty?" he said nervously, starting to back up. "Are you all right?"

"It can't be," she murmured.

"Well, if it is him, then the whole frost giant thing is nothing a simple spell can't fix—"

"So soon," she said, as if in a dream. "He looks like Thor . . ."

"Um . . . right," said Nari, backing up some more. He privately thought that Bragmir looked nothing like Thor.

Bragmir was sitting between Fasolt and Sfiera, staring at the ground. His friends weren't sitting as close to him as they would have normally. The guards all had their swords pointed at him without wavering.

"You went through three walls," Sfiera said disbelievingly. "And wiped out a squadron of Asgardians—"

"You've never even carried a staff," Fasolt said. "How did you learn to fight so quickly?"

"I don't know. Maybe I didn't. Maybe this is a mass conspiracy set to convince me that I'm really a berserker warrior. Maybe you're both in on it."

It felt like a gulf had opened between them. Was this because they knew now what he was? Bragmir was terrified of the Anger, and what it turned him into—were they just as scared?

"There are three Bragmir-shaped holes in the wall," Sfiera said. "You knew about this and you've been hiding it from us all this time. We could have _used _a berserker. Imagine how many caribou we'd catch. And mastodons . . . do you think you could bring down a mastodon?"

"I'm not a berserker."

They both bit back the question that was looming on the horizon. Finally Fasolt let it explode from his mouth.

"Is it true you're Loki's son?"

"_What_?"

Jarnsaxa sat down heavily next to them and heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry, Bragmir. I should have told you the truth."

"What do you mean, the truth?"

"I should have told you that you were adopted."

"Oh," said Bragmir, uncomprehendingly.

"This is turning into a horrible day," Sfiera said. "Straight out of a play from a wandering carnival."

"Remember that one with the two fire demons who were always being mixed up for each other?" Fasolt said meditatively. "The author was some fellow named Shakesknife . . ."

The puzzle pieces clicked into place.

"I was adopted?" Bragmir yelled.

"This is turning into an absolutely horrible day," Magni said to Ull, who was munching on a leg of roast goat. "Where'd you get that?"

"I got hungry, so I ran down to the kitchens."

"Can I have some?"

"You're just like my brothers," Hildy said in disgust, snatching the goat leg and taking a bite. "Always eating."

Nari stood by the wall, trying to sink into the shadows as usual. Thor approached, with Thrud on his shoulders.

"Nar!" said Thrud, reaching out happily.

"You're in huge trouble," Thor said.

Nari shrank back against the wall and nodded.

Thor clapped him on the shoulder. "But don't worry. I would have done much the same in my younger days. Have I told you of how I led a personal attack on all of Jotunheim with only five men behind me?"

"Yes," Nari said.

"It began on the day of my coronation . . ."

"What's Aunt Jane doing?" Nari asked.

Bragmir had been storming back and forth, shouting and brushing Jarnsaxa off every time she tried to approach. Jane padded up to him, looking strangely hopeful. She said something to him in a low voice, and he stared at her.

Jarnsaxa backed off. She looked crushed.

"It's getting close to dinnertime," Geirmarr said, evidently glad of an excuse to leave. "We can negotiate some other day."

Jane stopped him. "Prince Geirmarr, I'd like to ask permission for Bragmir to stay and visit for a while."

"What?" said Thor.

"Wha?" said Thrud.

"Right, sure," Geirmarr said, waving her off. "Keep him as long as you'd like. All right, men, let's get back to nice chilly Jotunheim."

Jarnsaxa lingered, reaching out for Bragmir. "I was only trying to protect you . . ."

"I know," he said, and faced the other way.

"Don't stay here, Bragmir, please, come back with me. You can help the others hunt. Your stepfather will be glad to see you—"

"No, he won't. Leave me be. I'll be back soon enough."

Jarnsaxa drew back her hand and placed it over her mouth. Then she hurried after Geirmarr and the rest of the frost giants.

"Be back soon," Sfiera said, cuffing Bragmir gently across the head. "Whatever you are."

A few minutes later, Bragmir was the only jotun in the palace.

A few minutes after that, he was the only jotun in Asgard.

**END PART I.**


	7. Intermission

_Bragmir: Thank you, everyone who reviewed. It seems I have been . . . er . . . promoted to the author's note. One note, Imperial Dragon: I've known since I was very small that I was a berserker. It's not really something you can miss. On the other hand, finding out that I was adopted _and_ that I was Asgardian was a COMPLETE surprise. _

-n-n-n-n-

Self-preservation is an instinct. No one wants to die. But some people take it the other way, deciding that they must live forever. And people do silly things to live forever.

And who would know this better than the goddess of death?

She faced down the hordes of wraiths and shades, all that was left of so many men and women. None of them had been good enough to be caught up by the Valkyries on their way down the road of death. Instead, they had died ignominious deaths in cowardice and shame. And they were consigned to Hel, in the endless icy mists of Niflheim.

They would have given anything to escape.

"I have a proposal," said Hel. "You will do one task for me, and then I will release you."

Their wispy hands were held out, pleading.

"Your bodies will be given back to you, healthy and in their prime, and you will never die again."

_Yes, yes_, whispered the shades. _We'll do anything._

"One more thing. While you are completing my task, you must not make a sound."

One of the shades raised a hand hesitantly.

"Yes?"

_What if we need to sneeze?_

Hela sighed. "I meant that you must not speak to anybody. If you see one of your friends, then you're not to go rushing off to greet them and have mead together."

The same shade raised its hand.

"What?" Hela demanded.

_What if it's your long-lost child whom you haven't seen in decades and they're all grown up now and they've borne you grandchildren and—_

"No. Talking."

_Sorry._

"Pretend we're playing the quiet game," Hela said.

_Right._

"Now, is it a deal?"

They nodded.

"We'll begin before the week is out," Hela said.


	8. Get Your Feet Back on the Ground

_Thank you, Resisting the Borg, for reviewing. _

**PART II**

**GET YOUR FEET BACK ON THE GROUND**

Jane arranged for a quiet family dinner in one of the upper rooms. She also set up an electric fan to keep the room cool. There weren't any outlets to plug it into, so she handed the plug to Thrud. The toddler's eyes sparkled and the fan immediately whirred into life.

Now, as long as she carefully watched so that Thrud didn't put the plug in her mouth, the fan would stay on.

She made a note to bring in Kelda, the goddess of ice, as soon as possible. The fan wasn't going to work for long. Thrud was at the eat-everything-that-moves stage.

Bragmir sat by the fan and immediately looked more comfortable. He took a bite of his food, but didn't chew. Instead he wrinkled his nose and looked around. Magni and Thor were both eating with enthusiasm.

"Is the food too hot?" Jane asked.

"What'd you do to it?" Bragmir said through his mouthful.

"Uh . . . it's been roasted . . . but I asked the cooks to let it cool off before they served it. Do you want something else?"

"What's roasted?"

"THRUD, NO!" Jane said, lunging for the electrical plug. Thor reached it first.

"Want!" Thrud insisted as he took it from her.

"No, no, dear heart," he said. "That is not for eating."

The fan slowed to a stop. Nari listlessly pushed his food around his plate.

"So who am I supposed to be?" Bragmir said sullenly.

"Modi Thorson, god of anger," Nari muttered.

Jane cleared her throat and composed herself. "That's the theory. Modi is my son, Magni's twin brother, who was kidnapped as a baby . . ." 

Bragmir wasn't listening.

"God of what?" he asked. "_Anger_?"

"There are gods for all sorts of things," Magni said.

"Oh," said Bragmir, as a thousand puzzle pieces fell into place. But he chose not to say anything.

-n-n-n-n-

"Do you think it's true?" Thor asked Jane as they prepared to go to sleep. Thrud was old enough to have a room of her own, but she still slept in a cot beside the bed, and Magni's room was right next door.

"I don't know," Jane said, tucking Thrud in and kissing her lightly. "He's the right age, and he's a berserker. He could be the god of anger. I want him to be. I hope this isn't all wishful thinking."

She looked over her shoulder at Thor. "Do you? Do you hope this isn't all wishful thinking?"

He was staring at the wall. He frowned. This was the same room Modi had been stolen from. There were more guards now, and booby-traps in the walls, but it was the same room.

"Jarnsaxa said Loki brought him to her," he said in a low voice.

Jane closed her hand over the bedpost and squeezed until her knuckles were as white as paper. "Did Loki steal Modi?"

"I don't know," Thor whispered. "He could have—he was always transforming things and sneaking around. He could even hide from Heimdall." 

"I'm going to kill him," Jane said between gritted teeth.

"It might not have been him." Thor's eyes narrowed. "But I wouldn't put anything past my brother."

-n-n-n-n-

One of the Asgardians could see everything. Thor had made very sure that Bragmir knew that.

There were guards outside the room, ready to rush him if he tried anything, and Thor was sleeping with his hammer by his bedside a few rooms away. And somewhere was that mysterious Asgardian who saw everything and could catch Bragmir at any time.

Bragmir couldn't sleep. He lay on the floor next to the huge bed and stared up at the dark ceiling.

It was close and stifling in here. He could only fall asleep under the sky, but he didn't dare go outside.

He could get used to the fact that he had been kidnapped. He could accept that he was now going to stay in Asgard for a short while, and that this was his decision.

What eluded him was the fact that, all his life, he had been lied to. He wasn't Jarnsaxa's son. His father hadn't died while he was a baby. Thormight be his father. _Thor_, king of Asgard. Or Loki. Loki was still a possibility.

"Modi Thorson," he whispered to himself, as if he might recognize the name after saying it out loud.

It didn't work.

-n-n-n-n-

"I've made a decision," Jane said the next morning at breakfast.

"Decision?" Nari repeated nervously.

"Can someone pass me some water?" asked Magni, who had just eaten a very sticky honey cake and effectively glued his hands to the tablecloth.

"We're going to take a vacation to Earth."

"Earth?" Nari echoed. "You mean Midgard?"

"Midgard!" Bragmir dropped the bowl of water he'd been handing to Magni. For the next few minutes, everyone was busy rescuing the food and getting Magni unglued.

"Balder can watch over Asgard for a few days," Thor said.

"Why Midgard?" asked Bragmir.

"It's where I was born," Jane explained.

"You're mortal?"

"I became a goddess when I married Thor. Any other questions?"

"We're not going to Darcy's house again, are we?" Magni asked warily.

"Aunt Darcy was very kind to let us stay with her last time," Jane said primly. "She was also very kind not to throw you out on your ear after you dropped Mjollnir into her collection of ceramic unicorns."

"It was heavy!" wailed Magni, who could probably have lifted a whole house full of ceramic unicorns but still hadn't mastered picking up Thor's hammer.

"You know the rule," Jane said. She glared at Thor, too. "_No_ tests of strengths indoors."

"Start packing after breakfast," Thor said, changing the subject after his best innocent face had failed.

-n-n-n-n-

Hildy and Ull exchanged glances, took deep breaths, and reached for the doorknob of Bilskirnir. Before they could touch it, it shot open and knocked Ull down. Magni looked out.

"Oh, hi, Hildy," he said, struggling to balance a pile of large packs.

"Where are you going?"

"Mmph!" said Ull from behind the door.

"Sorry, Ull, didn't see you there. We're taking a family trip to Midgard."

"What about the frost giant?" Hildy asked.

"He's coming too."

"Is that wise?" Ull asked, standing up.

"It was Mother's idea."

"Your mother has weird ideas," Hildy said.

"Want to see us off?"

"I should really stay home—" began Hildy.

"I have to polish my armor," Ull said.

"Please?" whined Magni. He looked at them pleadingly, letting his chin tremble and his eyes widen.

They both backed away.

"We'll come!"

"Just stop making the face!"

Magni's Bambi eyes could terrify a Valkyrie into submission.

-n-n-n-n-

The Rainbow Bridge had once been longer, before it was shattered and the observatory had fallen out of Asgard. Now the shattered end had been replaced by a second observatory, a little cruder and still partially unfinished.

"Say goodbye to Uncle Balder," Jane said, holding Thrud up. Balder leaned down from his white horse to hold her for a second.

"I'll do my best to keep order here, Thor," he said, smiling.

Bragmir balanced on the edge of the Rainbow Bridge, looking down at the stars in fascination.

Hildy reached out to pull him back. "Don't do that!"

He jerked away from her. "Why not?"

"You might fall!"

"I've never fallen in my life and I'm not starting now."

"Let's go!" Jane called. Bragmir glanced after her and then followed.

Hildy followed all the way up to the door of the observatory. "Do you know when you'll be back?"

"We're only staying a few days," Jane said. Behind her, Magni waved wildly.

Hildy backed away as the observatory began to spin, faster and faster.

The Bifrost opened.


	9. Midgard Is Round?

_Thank you, everyone who reviewed: silver colour, Imperial Dragon, and twotoe. I replied to silver colour's review but I just thought I'd let everyone know that, although we haven't seen Loki since the prologue, he will be showing up a lot during Part III._

_I decided that Darcy became a doctor. Don't judge me! I know she was taking political science, but lots of college students switch majors. Besides, it's important later._

_If anyone has any ideas for Darcy's family, please leave them in the reviews. I'm a little at a loss._

-n-n-n-n-

It was a chilly winter morning in New Mexico. Snow would be falling soon.

Dr. Darcy Lewis, M.D., opened her door and winced against the draft, just long enough to see Magni's face.

She slammed the door.

The knocking began insistently.

"Darcy!" Jane called in a muffled voice. "Darcy, it's us!"

Darcy sighed and opened the door. "I know who you are. Just hang on while I hide all my breakable objects."

Jane stumbled in, trying to adjust Thrud's hat.

"Oh, she's so big!" Darcy squealed.

"Can you say 'hi, Aunt Darcy'?" Jane asked Thrud. The toddler buried her face in Jane's neck.

Thor and Magni came in with the bundles, with Nari on their heels. Magni immediately tripped over a coffee table with a crash.

Darcy cringed.

"Sorry!" Magni said, getting up. "Sorry! I'll fix it!"

"Bragmir, are you coming in?" Jane called.

"Yes. Coming."

"Hey, why's that guy blue?" Darcy asked as he entered.

"Darcy, I'd like you to meet Bragmir," Jane said. "He's a frost giant. Bragmir, Darcy Lewis is an old friend of mine. She's a doct— Bragmir, do you have doctors in Jotunheim?"

"Pretty short frost giant," Darcy said.

"Thank you!" Jane said in a tone that meant, "Shut up now, please!"

"I got your rooms ready," Darcy said, moving in for a hug from Thor. "The boys are going to have to share."

"They won't mind," Jane said.

"Is there anything to eat?" Magni asked.

Darcy paused. "Oh, darn it. The fridge is totally empty."

"Why don't we run down to the store?" Jane suggested. "It's still there, right? I need to talk to you anyway."

-n-n-n-n-

"Are you sure?" Darcy asked as they padded down the cereal aisle. Jane was pushing the cart. Thrud sat inside, trying to pull her doll's hair out.

"No," Jane said, picking through the boxes. "He could be Modi, but we have to find proof."

"You brought him to Earth. You have to be at least a _little _sure."

"I want to be," Jane admitted. "I almost am. It's not impossible. But I'm a scientist, I can't just base everything on a feeling."

"Ooh!" said an older woman, stopping her cart to look at Thrud. "Aren't you adorable! What's your name?"

The little girl turned away shyly and put her thumb in her mouth.

"Her name's Thrud," Jane said.

"Thrud?" repeated the woman disbelievingly.

Jane smiled. "It was my husband's idea."

"I can believe that," the woman said, wrinkling her nose and pushing her cart away.

"I think Thrud's a very pretty name," Darcy said loyally.

"No, it isn't, Darcy. You're a terrible liar."

Darcy considered this. "You know, you could always change it. How about Darcy Junior?"

"No."

"You never like my ideas!"

"It's not a question of _liking_ . . ."

-n-n-n-n-

Darcy had set the boys' bedroom up in the basement, which was tastefully decorated with shelves full of moldering books and a washing machine and dryer. Three cots were waiting on the edge of the room to be unfolded. Thor had set down Mjollnir and was struggling with one of the cots, trying to figure out how to open it.

Magni tugged experimentally at the handle of Mjollnir. It didn't move.

"Magni!" Thor boomed warningly.

"I didn't do anything," Magni said, jumping away and folding his hands behind his back.

Thor turned around and glared warningly at him. "Remember the unicorns?"

"Yes!"

"They're probably as far away as possible from this room," Nari said thoughtfully, perched on the edge of the washing machine. He played with the buttons and jumped in shock when water began to slosh back and forth inside the machine.

(He was right. Darcy had wrapped up anything she owned that was glass or ceramic, in exactly twenty-four layers of bubble wrap, and hidden them in the attic.)

A door slammed overhead. "We're back!"

Thor straightened up and the cot snapped closed again.

Darcy opened the door and leaned down the stairs. "Hey, guys. What are you doing?"

"Nothing," said Thor.

"Anyone want pasta? I got about eight bajillion boxes because I know you eat a lot."

-n-n-n-n-

Darcy went out that evening, leaving the family alone with a movie. Jane had to wrestle with the newfangled DVD player for a while before she was able to start the movie.

Thor found some packets of microwaveable popcorn and closed them in the microwave. They were halfway through the movie before Jane got suspicious and went to check on the popcorn. The microwave had not been turned on and the little packets of kernels sat abandoned inside, cold and lonely.

"Thor!" she groaned, turning on the microwave.

"What's wrong?"

"Never mind," Jane said, watching the packet puff up.

"Is it magic?" Bragmir asked, tapping the TV screen.

"Don't touch the screen!" Jane called, coming in with the bowl of popcorn. "No, it's not magic, it's science."

"It's magic," Thor whispered to him.

"Don't tell them that!" Jane protested. "It's science."

Thor nodded and smiled. "It's magic."

"How do they get the pictures inside it?" Bragmir asked.

"Move, I can't see!" protested Magni.

Jane began to explain painstakingly how television worked. Nari bounced up, took the popcorn bowl from her, and began eating.

"Oh, I like this food," Magni said, digging in.

He passed a handful to Bragmir, who sniffed it suspiciously before biting down on one small piece with a crunch. A look of complete horror spread across his face.

"Let me get that for you, Bragmir," Jane said, stepping in.

-n-n-n-n-

Bragmir needed air. He pushed out of the door onto the lawn. Turning around, he started when he saw someone lying on the flat roof of the low garage.

Jane sat up and looked over the edge at him. "Hi, Bragmir. Come on up."

He hesitated and then clambered up the ladder onto the roof.

"I'm watching the stars," she said.

Bragmir craned his neck to look up at the myriad points of light.

"I can't see Yggdrasil," he said.

"You can't, from here."

"What are all their names?" Bragmir nodded at the stars.

Jane half-laughed. "There are too many to name. But, uh . . . there's the north star." She pointed. "It's called Polaris. No matter where you are in the world, that star will always be in the same place, like a guide."

"Why?"

"Because it's almost in line with the axis of the Earth—there's this point in space called the North Celestial Pole—"

"What's a pole?"

Jane stared at him for a minute.

"Okay," she said. "Midgard is round."

"So it's disc-shaped?"

"No. _Round_, like a ball. Er—" She fumbled for an example.

"That doesn't make any sense. Why isn't it flat, like a normal Realm?"

"Midgard is just funny that way!"

-n-n-n-n-

The basement was dark as Bragmir lay on his cot. He was uncomfortably warm, as usual in these new climates.

"Bragmir?" Magni asked in a low voice from across the room.

"What?"

"Thank you for saving me from falling."

"You're welcome."

They both paused, sleep catching at their eyelids.

"So are you a hunter or something?" Magni asked.

"No. I don't like killing."

"That's funny, seeing as you're a berserker and all."

"No, it isn't," Bragmir gritted.

"I meant 'funny' as in 'strange.' Why don't you try to hunt? Aren't berserkers good at that sort of thing?"

Bragmir's chest tightened. "Berserkers are freaks of nature. Everyone loves them when they need a herd of caribou brought down or an enemy tribe destroyed. But after all the enemies are gone and the prey has been eaten, the berserkers are—are just freaks. Too dangerous to have around."

"Can you both be quiet?" Nari mumbled. "I'm trying to go to sleep."

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

-n-n-n-n-

"Take him out for a walk," Jane said.

Thrud was asleep in the cot next to them.

"Where would I take him?" asked Thor.

"I don't know. Just show him the sights."

"What sights?"

Jane sat up, sighing in exasperation. "Get to _know _him."

"We don't know yet that he's really Modi."

"That's why we're trying to learn more about him. Maybe there's some clue that we're missing."

Thor was silent.

"Just ask him," Jane said. "Take Magni too. Say, 'Bragmir: Magni and I are going to walk through the town to see the sights and spend time as a family. We would be most pleased if you would join us.'" She deepened her voice and mimicked her husband's way of speaking.

"I could ask him," Thor said.

"That's my boy." She snuggled in close.

Thor put his arm around her.

"If it is him, will he want to stay with us?" he murmured.

"What do you mean?"

"He has been raised by the Frost Giants. He knows no other home."

"We'll have to teach him that he has a home with us."

"Mm," Thor said, unconvinced.

Jane fell asleep not long after that. Thor remained holding her, listening to her and Thrud breathe. He watched the night silently, daring anyone to violate this sanctum.


	10. Going Berserk

_I've been home with a cold, so I spent my evening drawing this._

h t t p : / / i m g 2 5 2 . i m a g e s h a c k . u s / i m g 2 5 2 / 4 5 9 6 / m a g n i a u t o c o r r e c t . j p g

_Somewhere, in ancient-god-king retirement, Odin is sitting around showing everyone photos of his grandkids._

_Odin: …And this is a picture of my son's son, immediately after awakening a beastly denizen of the icy wastes of Jotunheim. That's him in the middle with the expression of panic._

_Ra: Where do you get all these pictures? We haven't invented the camera yet!_

_Odin: My daughter-in-law sends them to me._

_Ra: Oh, that's funny. _My _daughter-in-law poisoned me to get her husband on the throne._

_Odin: …_

_Kronos: That is why I swallow all of my children at birth._

_Odin: Can we begin the story now, please?_

-n-n-n-n-

"How about DNA testing?" Darcy suggested over cold milk and cereal the next morning.

"That could work," Jane said, setting her chin on her hand.

Magni surreptitiously pushed his full cereal bowl in front of Thrud.

Jane turned to stare at him. "Seriously?"

"It's mush," Magni complained.

"Magni, Aunt Darcy has kindly provided a meal—"

Uneaten cereal lay in front of everybody except for Jane and Darcy. Thrud pushed Magni's bowl off the table. The plastic bowl bounced in a spray of milk and dissolving cereal.

"I've got it!" Jane yelped, diving for a towel.

"I could get out some turkey," Darcy suggested. "Would you guys like that better?"

"A turkey is a bird, am I correct?" asked Nari.

They ended up eating pop-tarts and leftover pasta from the night before. Bragmir ate very little.

-n-n-n-n-

"So, DNA testing," Darcy said, as she was washing the dishes.

Jane ran the vacuum cleaner next to the table. "How long would it take?"

"Not that long. We just need a few strands of your hair and a few of Bragmir's. Then I can send them in to a lab."

"All right. It's that easy?" Jane turned the vacuum cleaner off and fingered a lock of her long brown hair.

"Let me finish up and get a plastic baggie," Darcy said quickly. She flung the dishes into their racks, rubbed her hands on a dishtowel, and reached into a drawer for the bag.

Jane pulled a few wisps of her hair out and winced. "Is this enough?"

Darcy took them from her and sealed them inside the bag. "Yep. Just need Bragmir's, now."

There were heavy footsteps passing by. Jane ran to the door.

"There you are!" she said triumphantly, and dragged Bragmir inside. "We need some of your hair."

"_What_?"

Like Magni, he was almost as tall as Thor. She had to stand on tiptoe and reach up to pluck out a few strands of hair.

"Ow!" He rubbed his scalp.

"One second!" Darcy said, holding up a hand. She was scribbling Jane's name on the first bag. She finished, found another bag, and sealed up the new strands. She immediately began labeling it. "How do you spell Bragmir?"

"What are you doing?" Bragmir asked.

"A DNA test," Jane said.

"What's that?"

Thor leaned in. "What are you doing?"

"An experiment!" Darcy said, heady with excitement.

Thor took a deep breath and rattled off what was, apparently, a prepared speech. "Bragmir, Magni and I are going to walk through the town to see the sights and spend time as a family. We would be most pleased if you would join us."

Jane beamed at both of them.

Bragmir hesitated.

"I'll come," he said.

-n-n-n-n-

Thrud toddled across Darcy's lawn, bending down to pick flowers. Nari and Magni were experimentally tossing a football back and forth. Bragmir and Thor stepped out onto the porch and Thor immediately shivered in the cold air.

"I will be back in a moment," he said, ducking back inside the house for a coat. Bragmir sat down on the steps and watched the game.

"I don't understand why they call it a ball," Magni said.

"Is it shaped like Midgard?" asked Bragmir.

"No," Nari said.

"Now, on the tevelision," Magni began.

"It's called television," Nari said.

"That's what I said."

"No, it—"

"On the television," Magni said loudly, "people knock each other over to get the ball. That is the kind of game I like. I don't understand why you don't want to play it, Nari."

"I have no problem with playing it," Nari said, catching the football so hard his hands stung. "It's just the matter of the opposing player being the god of strength."

He tossed it to Magni. Magni looked calculatingly at the ball in his hands, and then at Bragmir.

"I don't play fighting games," Bragmir said.

"This isn't a fighting game," Magni protested.

"It's close enough." Bragmir got up and turned around to go inside—just as Magni lobbed the ball towards him.

The football struck him hard in the back of the head, knocking him forward into the wall. He crumpled to the ground as the ball wobbled away.

"Not again," Nari muttered.

Magni ran forward, contrite. "Are you all right?"

Magni rolled Bragmir onto his back and saw gleaming red eyes.

"Uh—" he began.

Bragmir threw him into the air. He smashed through the porch roof and dropped onto the lawn, rolling and then leaping to his feet.

Bragmir got up slowly. His face was disfigured by rage.

Nari vanished.

The berserker advanced from the porch, moving low and close to the ground with his arms out.

"We can talk this over," Magni said, backing up a little.

Bragmir tackled him.

They rolled back and forth, crashing through the neighbor's hedge and setting the dog in the next yard to barking. Thrud put her thumb in her mouth and watched dispassionately.

The door flew open and Jane darted out. "What's going on?"

In the distance, a car alarm went off.

Thor charged out of the house, Mjollnir at the ready. He stepped cautiously through the ruins of the hedge, taking in the sight of a trail of broken fences and torn-up grass. Magni had Bragmir pinned on the sidewalk.

The frost giant fought wildly. Magni was unfazed, holding him down.

"Enough!" roared Thor.

Magni looked up, startled. Bragmir took advantage of the distraction to knock his feet out from under him.

Jane tore into the yard after them. "Talk to him! It calms him down!"

The owner of the yard was standing on the back porch, shrieking about calling the police.

Thor was in no mood to reason with anybody attacking his son. The hammer circled like a fan as he prepared to throw it.

"Father, stop!" Magni shouted, flinging himself in the way. "It was my fault! I hit him in the head with the not-ball!"

"Move out of the way!" Thor snarled.

"He saved my life!"

Startled, Thor let go of the hammer and it arced off into the distance in the wrong direction.

"What happened in Jotunheim?" Thor asked.

"I fell through the ice and he climbed down to get me."

A low growl came from Bragmir. They looked at him awkwardly. He was pressed up against the fence, waiting in angry bewilderment. Why had everyone stopped fighting?

Thor rubbed his forehead. "You say you hit him first?"

"It was an accident," Magni mumbled.

Mjollnir came whirring back into Thor's hand. Bragmir immediately stiffened, honing in on the weapon. Thor carefully set the hammer down and stepped away from it.

"There, see?" Jane said coaxingly to Bragmir. "No one's going to hurt you."

"We can still take our walk," Thor said, even though his fingers were itching to pick up the hammer again.

Bragmir nodded slowly as his eyes lightened to yellow. He straightened up with a slight gasp.

"Did I kill anyone?" he burst out, like someone who had been holding their breath underwater.

"No," Jane said. "Everyone's fine."

Nari materialized not far away. "Is it over?"

"Yes," Jane said, exasperated.

"Oh, good."

-n-n-n-n-

_Yeah, you have to read the mythology to understand what Ra and Kronos are talking about. They're Egyptian and Greek, respectively. It's my gift to all you Percy Jackson fans._


	11. Son of Coul

_Thank you, Resisting the Borg, for reviewing. National Novel Writing Month starts tomorrow, so updates may not be quite as regular anymore._

Dirk Garthwaite had once been known as the Wrecker. Then he went to jail—not just any jail, but the Vault, a place for supervillains—and all such things were forgotten.

When he got out of jail, he remembered them again. He waited for a few weeks and then headed for the bank. When he came out, he was carrying several bags of money under his massive arm. The doors slid shut behind him, cutting off the faint sound of the bank alarm.

Police sirens wailed. He didn't plan to be anywhere near the bank when they arrived. He moved swiftly through the crowd, knocking people over when they didn't get out of the way fast enough.

His plans for the immediate future were interrupted when he reached the curb, raised his hand to wave down a taxi, and ran into someone who refused to fall over. He dropped the bags.

"Watch it!" he snarled, just before realizing that he recognized the blond-bearded face looking down at him. And its owner recognized him.

Thor looked down at the clearly marked bank bags before looking back up at Dirk Garthwaite. His hand moved to the handle of Mjollnir. Behind him, Magni and Bragmir watched.

"What's going—" began Bragmir. Magni shushed him.

"I don't believe this is your money," Thor said, toeing one of the bags.

Dirk didn't wait. He sailed in with his fists, only to meet Mjollnir in mid-flight.

WHAM THUD WHAM POW THUD THUD!

"Mommy, that guy's blue," said a little girl a few yards away. Her mother hurried her off. Bragmir turned to watch them go.

"Watch this," Magni said. "The fellow's knocked down, but in a minute he's going to get up and rush him from behind, only Father's already seen him—"

KRAKOOM!

"See?" Magni laughed. "It happens every time."

"Where are we going?" Bragmir asked.

"We're just walking," Magni said. "Ooh, ice cream." He was completely unconcerned that everyone was staring at them. To him, standing back and watching his father beat up a criminal was completely commonplace.

"What's ice cream?"

"Father, can I borrow some money?" Magni called.

Thor dropped the bank robber and dug into his pocket for loose change. He tossed it to Magni, who immediately headed for the ice cream stand.

"I'll have . . . two of those," he said, tapping the cardboard menu that was taped to the edge of the stand.

The vendor stared blankly at him.

"Hi," Magni said, with his best reassuringly Midgardian smile.

The vendor moved slowly to the cooler and took out two ice cream bars. The cooler was full—no one cared to buy ice cream in this weather. Magni slapped the money down on the counter and took the ice cream bars. There was more than enough money, but the vendor didn't respond or pick up the coins.

"That guy's blue," he said faintly, gesturing at Bragmir.

"I'll inform him immediately," Magni said, leaving with the ice cream. He handed one bar to Bragmir and began unwrapping the other. Bragmir slowly followed his example.

"Has he finished yet?" Magni asked.

The police cars pulled up with a screech. Thor marched his opponent over and politely handed him over into the custody of the police department.

"What's this made of?" Bragmir asked, reluctantly biting off part of the ice cream.

"I don't know."

Thor trotted up to them, looking immensely pleased with himself. "Shall we move on?"

This was not the town Thor had first come to. It was larger and busier. They walked along the edge of a bridge, watching the cars zip past underneath into a tunnel.

"I have a question," Magni said, licking ice cream off his fingers. "Bragmir, in Jotunheim, why _did_ you save me?"

Bragmir shrugged. "No one else was going to do it. This is good ice cream. Where are we going?"

"We're just walking," Thor said.

A long black car pulled up next to them. One of the mirrored windows slid down slowly, and a man in a suit and dark glasses looked out.

"Thor Odinson?" he asked.

"Good to see you, Son of Coul," Thor said, opening the door and sliding in. The boys watched him, confused. He beckoned for them to follow.

Magni was the next to jump in, bouncing a little on the soft cushions.

"I'm Magni Thorson," he said to the man in the dark glasses. "Have we met?"

"I'm Agent Coulson, from S.H.I.E.L.D. and DON'T PUT THE ICE CREAM BAR ON THE SEAT—"

"Sorry," said Magni, who had already smeared melted ice cream all over the seat cushion and part of the door. "Bragmir, are you getting in?"

Bragmir got in hesitantly, avoiding the ice cream smears. He didn't sit down, but crouched on the floor, leaving the door open.

"Could you please—" began Coulson.

Thor reached over to slam the door shut and pull the seatbelt out. "You may sit down, Bragmir."

"Is this your kid?" Coulson asked, jerking a thumb towards Magni.

"Yes," Thor said. "Bragmir, you have to be buckled in—"

"Who's your friend?"

Thor paused. "This is . . . my other son. They're twins."

Coulson raised his eyebrows once. "Well, we're blocking traffic."

"The car won't start unless you're buckled in," Magni said to Bragmir.

"I don't want to be tied up!"

"Look," Magni coaxed, "we're both tied up, and so is the fellow in front. You'll be fine. Don't go berserk."

Breathing hard, with his eyes starting to turn red, Bragmir reluctantly allowed himself to be buckled into the seatbelt.

As he lay back, he remembered something. "What do you mean, the car won't start?"

Coulson threw the car into gear and they roared off.

"Aaghh!" screamed Bragmir.

"I'm not used to playing chauffeur!" Coulson shouted over him. "But we heard the police reports! Why don't you ever call us when you decide to show up?"

"This is a family trip," Thor confided. "We're just looking at the sights."

Bragmir stared at the world whipping past the windows outside. "Is it magic?"

"No," Magni said. "Science. The windows go up and down, too."

Behind his sunglasses, Coulson's eyes flickered to the rear view mirror to get a good look at them. He had never—_quite_—believed that Thor was actually a Norse god. Not many Midgardians did. Neither had he any special affection for super-heroes' children.

Iron Man had an annoying little boy who liked to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database, and there were rumors of some little Hulks running around knocking buildings over. A couple of teenaged Thors were the last thing S.H.I.E.L.D. needed.

One of these days the kids would grow up (into responsible superheroes, it was hoped), but until then, they were very much an obstacle.


	12. The Unbreakable Curse

_At the Ancient God-King Retirement Home:_

_Ra: I have been reading this fanfic and I must admit that I am confused._

_Odin: Why?_

_Ra: Loki was able to find out his heritage by touching a magical artifact. Why can't Bragmir simply do the same?_

_Odin: Uh…_

_Kronos: I say the story should end with someone being eaten!_

_Ra: Come, Odin, make the story speed up. It's becoming tiring. Is Bragmir Modi or not?_

_Odin: I will talk to the author._

_-n-n-n-n-_

Coulson's car circled the town, finally stopping at a small restaurant.

"I should call Jane," Thor said. "Have you a telephone?"

Coulson wordlessly handed him his cell phone. Thor set down Mjollnir on the sidewalk and began cautiously dialing Jane's number.

Magni quietly reached out for the hammer.

"Magni," Thor said warningly.

"I didn't do anything."

Jane picked up the phone and Thor was immediately occupied. He stepped away from Mjollnir. Magni's face lit up and he nudged Bragmir.

"You try picking it up," he whispered.

"No."

"Try!"

"No."

"Don't be a coward."

Bragmir sighed and moved to pick it up.

Thor jumped as lightning struck behind him.

"Is it raining over there?" Jane shouted into the phone.

"Just a moment!" he yelled, throwing the phone to Coulson.

"Hello, Mrs. Odinson," Coulson said imperturbably into the phone. "How are you enjoying the weather?"

Thor plunged into the lightning storm surrounding Mjollnir. He plucked it from his son's hands and the storm died.

"I see," Coulson continued. "Yes, it should snow soon, actually . . ."

"I have _told _you, Magni," Thor said. "You are not allowed near Mjollnir anymore—"

He paused. The boy he'd taken the hammer from had fair skin, and was redheaded and blue-eyed. As he watched, the fair skin faded to blue and the red hair turned black.

"I'm not Magni," Bragmir said. He blinked once, with yellow eyes, and collapsed.

"How come _he _can pick it up?" Magni complained from behind a display case.

-n-n-n-n-

They had been on Midgard for a week. It was nighttime and everyone was either asleep or getting into bed. In the morning, they would head back to Asgard.

Bragmir sat silently on the edge of the cot for a long time. Magni and Nari were both startled when he finally spoke. "Nari, what kind of curse is on me?"

"I think it's a fairly simple shape-changing spell," Nari said.

"Can you get rid of it?"

"I think so. Should I try?"

"Please," said Bragmir, sitting down on the floor.

Magni settled on his own cot and rested his chin on his knees to watch.

Nari knelt in front of Bragmir and held out his hands. His lips moved silently and the air began to glow, green and blue.

Bragmir leaned back, looking panicked.

"Don't move," Nari said, biting his lip in concentration.

"Is it going to hurt?"

"Talking counts as moving," Magni said. Bragmir shot him an enraged glance out of the corner of his eye.

Blue pigment seeped up Nari's fingers and hands. His eyes fluttered.

Magni quietly got off the cot and hid behind the washing machine, peeking cautiously over the top.

Sweat tickled Bragmir's eyes. The Anger swirled inside him, stirred up by his fear. He quickly inspected his skin, trying to see if it was changing color. The temperature in the room rose steadily. Water beaded on the ceiling.

"Almost . . ." Nari gritted out from between clenched teeth. One of his eyes was a clear piercing green, and the other was red, like a frost giant's.

Magni stood up from behind the washing machine to see better.

That was when the spell blew up in their faces.

A few floors above, Thor and Jane were shaken out of their sleep by the shuddering of the walls and floor. One of the bookshelves fell over, spilling books across the floor.

Magni groaned and pushed the badly dented washing machine off himself. "I'm all . . . right. Are you both all right?"

Bragmir had hit the wall so hard that he'd penetrated a few inches. He fell out of the new body-shaped hole, plaster crumbling around him. Nari lay in a crumpled heap at the foot of the opposite wall.

Nari was as Asgardian as ever, and Bragmir was as Frost Giant-y as ever. Magni quickly checked himself over to make sure that he hadn't turned blue or purple, and then ran to Nari's side.

"That should've worked," Nari mumbled as Magni rolled him onto his back.

"You're alive!" Magni sighed in relief. Bragmir dropped to his knees next to them and rubbed his face in exhaustion.

The door flew open.

"Magni?" Jane called frantically. "Boys, are you okay?"

"We're all fine," Magni called. "You don't have to come—"

Jane ran down the stairs, with Darcy and Thor (carrying a sleepy Thrud) on her heels.

"—down," Magni finished reluctantly.

"There was an earthquake!" Darcy said.

Nari raised his head. "It was my fault."

"No, it wasn't," Bragmir said. "The spell was my idea."

"I was trying to lift the curse," Nari said, with a jerk of his shoulder.

Jane stared at them, at the plaster falling from the walls, at the wrecked washing machine and fallen cots.

"Oh, Nari . . ." she groaned.

"My ceramic unicorns!" Darcy almost screamed, and ran back up the stairs to check on the contents of her attic.

-n-n-n-n-

Darcy drove them to a deserted spot on the edge of town. They stood back and she waved wistfully.

"Bye," she said. "I'll e-mail you when I get the test results back."

The Bifrost opened. Moments later, they stood in the observatory, as the walls slowly stopped spinning. Heimdall watched them imperturbably.

"Well, that was fun," Magni said.

"Ah, it's good to be home," Thor said, clapping his son on the back. "Jane, why do we not have a feast to celebrate our return? Give Magni a chance to meet some eligible maidens?"

He guffawed at the look on Magni's face. "I was jesting."

"I want to go back to Jotunheim," Bragmir said suddenly.

"You can't go!" Jane cupped his hand in both of hers. "We just found you!"

He wasn't looking at her.

"I said I'd visit," he said. "I visited. Now I want to go back to my village."

"Don't leave!" pleaded Magni.

"I can still take the curse off!" Nari wailed. "I just need to find a good spellbook. Really, I can help!"

"I don't need any help," Bragmir said distantly.

Thor pulled Jane aside. "Let him go."

"What? No! Are you insane? It's Modi! You saw him with Mjollnir. This is our _son _we're talking—"

"Jane," Thor said gently. "Give him time to get used to it. He'll come back."

With Thrud on his shoulders, he ushered his wife out.

"But—but—" began Magni.

"Come," Thor said. Magni and Nari followed reluctantly.

"Heimdall, send him wherever he wishes to go," Thor said.

"Yes, my king."

The family disappeared.

Bragmir gulped. Somehow he could still feel Thor's eyes boring into him. With difficulty, he summoned the words to address Heimdall. "Can you set me down near my village? But not too near?"

"Of course, my prince," Heimdall said without a blink.

Bragmir turned towards him sharply and would have said something, but the Bifrost opened and he was flung out into space, rushing towards Jotunheim.

-n-n-n-n-

Hildy and Ull were waiting at the gates of Asgard. Ull was carrying a bouquet of wildflowers and wearing a grumpy expression.

"Welcome back!" Hildy sang out as Magni trudged past her. Her face fell when he didn't respond.

"Aren't you going to ask why Ull's carrying flowers?" she asked, as Nari plodded after him. "It's really a funny story! See, we made a bet—"

"Didn't Bragmir go with you?" Ull asked.

Jane paused and stared bleakly at them. They stepped back in tandem.

"We won't ask any more," Hildy said meekly, elbowing Ull into silence.

Thor walked looking over his shoulder, back towards the spinning observatory.

And so the family of Thor proceeded together into the city of Asgard, as Bragmir fell alone towards the icy wastelands of Jotunheim.

**END PART II.**

_Kronos: Well, that was lame and anticlimactic!_

_Odin: Oh, shut up._


	13. Intermission, part 2

_Thank you, GRexCarolinii, Imperial Dragon, silver colour, Dalekgirl, and Resisting the Borg, for reviewing._

-n-n-n-n-

Vali looked in the mirror to straighten his armor and make sure his hair was neat. He was late for his meeting with Hela.

He had learned a long time ago that his mother Sigyn was wrong about how to find Loki. You didn't _look _for Loki. He didn't allow himself to be found. You went out and you waited, and if you were interesting enough, he would show up.

So what you had to do, if you wanted his attention, was be _extremely _interesting. Like, slaughter-the-populations-of-entire-realms interesting. Destroy-Asgard interesting.

Because simply being Loki's son had stopped being interesting enough more than ten years ago.

"_Father, wait!" Vali had called, running out of the house gates after the retreating green figure._

_The man did not pause or look around. Vali hesitated. Maybe he was mistaken. Maybe it wasn't his father after all._

_But the man had to turn a corner to go down the long avenue, and Vali caught a glimpse of his profile. It _was _Loki._

A game_, Vali thought, and ran faster. If he could just catch up, his father would laugh and spin him around and they would go home to dinner. _

_He caught up easily enough, and grabbed his father's hand, swinging it between them like a bridge. Loki looked down at him and gently disentangled his hand._

"_Father, what's wrong?" Vali tugged on the edge of his coat._

"_I have been exiled from the Nine Realms."_

"_Where will we go?"_

"_You're staying here. I'm going to a safe place."_

"_Why can't I come?"_

"_Because it doesn't work that way," said Loki, and disappeared in a whirl of coats._

_Vali stood alone and looked around silently. The passerby studiously avoided even looking at him. In one of the courtyards, Sif was practicing archery. She'd brought little Ull's cradle outside so that he could watch from a distance. She glanced back at him now and again, making sure he was safe._

_No one gave Vali that kind of glance._

And that was the day he became invisible. No, not invisible – just a reflection of Loki, so that no one could look at him without seeing his father. Even Loki himself couldn't look at his son without being reminded that his child was half frost-giant. Maybe that was why he was so unwilling to see him.

Vali strapped on his sword and stepped out towards Hel.


	14. The Highway Back from Hel

PART III

THE HIGHWAY BACK FROM HEL

An ice bear had killed a fish and was feeding it to its cubs. Bragmir stopped his trek to watch.

When he was younger, and sillier, he'd stood in front of an ice bear as it charged him, and gazed into its huge dark eyes and its snarling mouth, and wondered at it. It was alive and glorious. Then the Anger had broken loose, and when the red haze faded—

Dead. It had been beautiful, and he'd broken it. He'd cried over it. He could have fed the village with it, but shame and remorse made him bury it. He'd never told anyone. And when the time came for him to learn how to hunt, he disappointed everyone by refusing to kill.

Now he stood and watched this bear wistfully. At last, it finished eating and lumbered away. The cubs tumbled after it. The breath came out of Bragmir's lungs with a whoosh. He started walking again.

His village came into sight. It had moved since he'd left, drifting along the hunting trail. Bragmir never spent much time in the village – he was too afraid that the Anger would come upon him and he would hurt someone – but now a smile broke over his face and he sped up. He could see his mother and the other women carefully tanning skins in front of the tents. The smallest children were playing hunt with sticks for spears.

His mother turned and saw him coming towards her. She stood and spread out her arms.

For the next few minutes, Bragmir didn't think of anything except—_I'm home. Jotunheim. Home._

She held him at arm's length, smoothing his hair out of his face. "You've grown. Did they treat you well? Did they feed you enough?"

"They have this weird idea about burning their food before they eat it, but I was fine."

"I knew you'd come back," she said with satisfaction. "I knew you weren't an Asgardian."

Something in his chest twisted sharply.

"Right," he said, not meeting her eyes. "Where is everybody? I suppose Sfiera and Fasolt are out hunting, as usual."

"Well, Sfiera's staying at court for a while, and Fasolt went out on a far patrol with some of the other boys. Neither of them will be back for weeks yet. But you look tired. Do you want to lie down? I'll get you some frozen meat."

"I'm fine." Actually, the Anger was bubbling inside him. How dare his friends move off without him? Why did he have to go back to being the small, fragile one of the family?

He quashed the feelings, reminding himself that gods had self-control.

Jarnsaxa caught his arm and looked pleadingly at him. "Your stepfather's had an accident. Not bad, but he's stuck in his tent for now. Please . . . try to get along with—"

His stepfather moved out of the tent. His arm was tied against his chest and there were bandages across the side of his face. He limped, leaning on his spear for support. It was probably the most famous weapon in the village, thick around as Bragmir's arm, made from a tree with wood as black as night. It had once brought down an ice beast.

"Suttung!" Jarnsaxa said, hugging him. She drew back, worried. "Why are you out of your tent?"

"Hello, Suttung," Bragmir said, backing up a little. "Um . . . I see you had an accident."

"I see our little Asgardian has returned," Suttung said caustically. "How was your pleasure trip?"

"Suttung," Jarnsaxa said in a taut hiss. "Don't joke about it."

Bragmir dug his stubby nails into the palm of his hand. "My trip was fine, thank you."

"I'll tell Grundoth you're back," Jarnsaxa said, hurrying off towards the elder's tent.

Bragmir and his stepfather faced each other silently.

"What happened?" Bragmir said, with a nod towards the bandages.

"Brought down an ice beast single-handedly," Suttung said smugly, tightening his hand on the spear. So that was two ice beasts he had killed. "Enough meat to keep the entire village fed for a week. Of course it did its best to kill me, but a _man _can't let that stop him."

"Right," Bragmir said distantly.

"Did you finally learn to hunt while you were gone, Bragmir?"

"No." _Don't kill him. Don't kill him. Don't . . ._

"It's a shame. Maybe you can learn to tan skins, or cook, instead . . ."

Gilling was leading his hunting party in. They'd brought down an ice bear. Bragmir closed his eyes.

"Still can't bear the sight of blood?" Suttung said in a low voice. "Can't blame you there, not everyone can stomach—"

Bragmir snatched the spear and pointed it at him. The red haze of the Anger curled around him.

Suttung staggered, finding his balance. He stared down disbelievingly at the midget pointing his spear at him.

He laughed. "Stop this, Bragmir, before you hurt yourself."

Gilling sauntered over, surveying the situation. "What's wrong? Oh, you're back, Bragmir. Want some bear meat?"

Bragmir had time to think _Don't kill anything _before his body was moving on its own, sweeping the spear up and bringing it down over his knee.

It didn't snap. It exploded with the force of the blow. The shaft, thick as a tree trunk, fell in slivers to the ground.

Bragmir dropped what was left of the spear into the snow. Ignoring his stepfather's face, he turned around and set back off across the ice. He bumped into his mother, muttered, "Sorry," and kept going.

"Bragmir?" she called. Her face was alarmed. She was carrying a bowl of dried fish, his favorite kind.

"I'll be back soon," he said.

And he walked until his village had disappeared behind the folds of snow.

-n-n-n-n-

"Do you feel like talking about it yet?" Hildy asked.

"No," said Magni.

Magni, Hildy, and Ull were drinking hot chocolate and sitting on a broad bench. Below them, the grassy fields of the Asgardian countryside melted into a smooth golden beach. The sea tossed and turned.

"Where's Nari?" asked Ull.

"He wandered off somewhere. He'll be here soon, he said so."

"Maybe that's him now," Hildy said, straightening up. They all strained to hear the crunch of footsteps on the sand.

Nari did not appear around the curve of the shore. A tall woman was walking there, instead. Her face was tight and unhappy and she held a pair of ice skates tightly in her hands. She glanced towards the nearest house, the palace of Njord the sea god, resentfully. Her longing eyes turned towards the kids for a moment. She recognized Magni and dropped a shallow curtsey before moving on.

"Who was that?" Hildy asked in a low voice.

"Skadi," Ull said dreamily. "She's one of the snow goddesses. Isn't she beautiful?"

"Ull, she's old enough to be your mother!"

"I know. She's still amazing."

"Wasn't she a frost giantess?" Hildy asked.

"Mm-hmm." Ull nodded. "Until she married Njord."

Magni went very still.

"That's right," he breathed. "Mother became an Asgardian, too, when she wed."

Hildy looked worried. "What are you thinking, Magni?"

Magni leaped up, spilling his drink all over the ground. "We have to find Bragmir a wife!"

This didn't go over quite as well as he had hoped.

"Um . . . why?" Ull asked suspiciously. "Where is Bragmir, anyway?"

"Oh, he's in Jotunheim. But we're going to get him back!"

"Oh no," said Hildy. "Oh no, no, no. You hate it when people play matchmaker over you. You can't just . . . start playing matchmaker yourself."

"Right!" Ull said. "Remember the princess of Svartalfheim, the one who liked to set things on fire?" He shuddered. "_I _remember her."

"No, no, we aren't marrying Bragmir to anyone from Svartalfheim," Magni said quickly. "We're going to find a girl from Asgard."

Hildy started to turn red and puff up. "No self-respecting girl is going to just fling herself—"

"How about Hnossa, Freya's daughter?" Magni suggested.

Ull's eyes immediately went dreamy. "Hnossa . . ."

"She's betrothed!" Hildy snapped.

"She's got a sister, hasn't she?" Magni was not to be deterred.

"That's Gersimi," Ull said.

"Right. Now we just have to find Gersimi and ask her—"

"Absolutely not!" Hildy cried.

"Do you have any sisters you would like to volunteer?" Magni asked. What scared Hildy was that it was a genuinely honest question.

"_No_! I refuse to have anything to do with this . . . this . . . nonsense! You're both insane!"

-n-n-n-n-

"I can't believe you," Jane said sharply. She paced back and forth in front of the throne where Thor was sitting, yanking Thrud after her. Thrud toddled after her, looking unhappy. She wanted to wander off and put things in her mouth, but instead her mother was walking her back and forth for no apparent reason.

"He'll come back," Thor insisted

"We finally found him, and you let him go! And now Nari's missing!"

Thor sighed. He couldn't find anything to say. For some reason, Loki's face from years ago kept swimming past his eyes.

"He'll come back," he said.

-n-n-n-n-

No frost giant wanted anything to do with Loki any more. They had had enough of his endless lies and double-crossings, as had the rest of the Nine Races.

But unlike the rest of the Nine Races, the frost giants remembered where to find Loki.

Bragmir shoved through the snow until he came to a little valley. He slid down towards a half-buried cave and pushed his way inside.

He was in a low-roofed tunnel. He had to crouch and feel his way along through the dark. Suddenly he stumbled down a set of carpeted steps.

Without warning, he had entered a comfy little room with a fire burning in the fireplace. He turned around to look for the tunnel he had just left, and couldn't find it. The ends of the room were lost in shadow, pierced by carven columns.

"Hello?" he asked nervously. "Um . . . Loki? Are you here?"

"Hello," said a quiet, cool voice. It soothed Bragmir's nerves. He wanted to please it.

"I n—I need to ask you a question." His mouth had gone numb.

"All right, I'm listening."

"Am I Modi Thorson? And did you kidnap me?"

"That's technically two questions."

Bragmir couldn't collect his thoughts enough to answer.

"Not to worry, I'll answer both of them. But first, let me tell you a story," said the soft silver voice. "Once there was a man who walked through the home of his enemies. He came upon a baby – small, and not much to look at as babies go. He took it. He took it back to his own country, and he let it be raised as one of his own people, never telling it the truth. Now, who was that baby?"

"Me," said Bragmir meekly.

"No."

Soft boots padded on the floor.

"It was me," said Loki Laufeyson.


	15. The Advancing Army

_Thank you, Dalekgirl, for reviewing._

_Bragmir has just found Loki in a small cave on Jotunheim. Magni and Ull have embarked on a quest to find Bragmir an Asgardian bride, in order to break his curse. Nari is missing._

-n-n-n-n-

Nari stepped down into Hel.

The soft music of reed pipes filled the air. It immediately began to grate on his nerves. He couldn't see his feet, and stepped cautiously through the drifting mist.

He came into a long low hall. A hearth, roaring with fire, stretched all along one side of the room. Otherwise, the room was empty.

He jumped when he noticed a small, slim girl sitting on a stool in front of the fire. Her back was to him. He could have _sworn _the little girl hadn't been there a second ago.

"Hello?" he asked.

The music stopped abruptly.

The girl turned around on her stool. Suddenly he saw that she was a young woman, wrapped in a dark green cloak, with a mask over her face.

"It's Hela," said the young woman.

"What?" he asked.

"It's Hela," repeated the woman. "Not Hello."

"That wasn't what I—" Nari stopped. He bowed awkwardly. "Hela, it's good to see you."

"No. No it isn't." Hela stood up. Abruptly, the music began again, high weeping notes.

Nari winced.

"You don't like my music, little brother?" Hela asked wryly. "I can ask the musicians to play another tune."

The piping flutes stopped. Instead, Midgardian music filled the chamber. It had guitar riffs and heavy drums and unintelligible screaming vocals. The horses shied away.

"I didn't know you listened to this sort of thing!" Nari shouted over the noise—he could not think of it as music.

The invisible singer screamed something about love, or possibly about his tonsils. The music stopped, replaced immediately by the insistent reed pipes.

"I don't like this band," Hela said thoughtfully. "Now, what did you want to ask me? Make it quick—my realm's no place for the living."

"Where is our father?"

Her head tilted on its side. "Why do you ask?"

"I need to ask him something about a spell."

"Good luck in finding him, brother," she said with a shrug. One of her eyes was a clear green, like his. The other was sunken and rotten with death.

"Do you know anyone who might know where he is?"

Another long shrug.

"No," said a voice they both recognized. "But I do."

Nari spun around to see Vali smirking at him.

"Vali?" He wavered, dazed. He hadn't seen his older brother in years. "What . . . what are you doing here?"

"Visiting Hela. But it's good to see you, too." Vali stepped forward, opening his arms for a hug. He had been eating well. His face was plump and sardonic.

Nari took a step back.

"Do the Asgardians know you're here?" Vali asked, lowering his arms without letting it look like a defeat.

"No," Nari said hesitantly. He immediately decided that he should have said yes, that he should have let Vali think he was being followed by a band of Valkyries and the Royal Guard.

"You're looking for Father, aren't you," Vali said.

"Yes."

"Well, then, come along. I'll take you to him. I can resume my meeting with Hela later."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Nari said, backing up some more. "You're a traitor."

For a second Vali's smile slipped, and something ugly twisted his face. He plastered the smile back on, and reached out to take Nari's hand gently.

"I'm no traitor, little brother. I'm just Vali, the same as always."

Before Nari could pull away, Vali had opened a portal and they were somewhere else.

Hela waited for a moment for their voices to fade from her halls. Then she abruptly clapped her hands. The music changed again, and she sighed happily as Fergie started rasping into the microphone.

The shades of men and women long dead shifted, stirred into wakefulness by the music. They plugged their ghostly ears with their fingers and drifted elsewhere.

And so they did not notice when Hela left. She marched her army out of Hel, and locked the gates behind them.

As they rose towards their target, she cast a spell that would heal the bodies her soldiers were about to reenter. The spell would renew itself.

It was a risk – now nobody could reach the afterlife, and so anyone who died would be able to go back to their bodies. But it was part of her deal with the army, so she went ahead and hoped that no one would figure it out. If she was lucky, any new souls that arrived would still be waiting at the locked gates – literally too dumb to live – when she came back.

-n-n-n-n-

"Enough!" Volstagg shouted. His many children stopped careening around and stood at attention.

"No eating in the ranks," Volstagg pointed out as he processed down the line. He collected a leg of roast boar and two apples, and began munching on them.

"Daddy, _you're _eating in the ranks!" One of the smaller girls collapsed, laughing hard.

"I'm not in the ranks!" he barked. "I am your commanding officer and your father. _You _are in the ranks."

Hildy watched from the window. Her mother, Hildegund, was a large soft woman who somehow knew how to comfort anyone at any time. Unfortunately, she wasn't at home right now, and neither were any of Hildy's older sisters, and so she was left at home to watch her father drill her siblings in close combat.

Rolfe and Alaric were fishing in the pond, having somehow escaped roll call. Einar had been given a bugle and kept blasting a high, shrill note, even when he was supposed to be standing at attention. Gudrun was too small to follow orders and kept running around, getting underboot.

It rankled.

Not sitting and watching. Usually she would have been right out there with the rest of them, marching and singing. But she wasn't in the mood right now.

What rankled was the way Magni and Ull acted around her. Nari did it too, when he was with them.

When she'd made friends with them, it had felt good to be around people who didn't tell her off for wearing breeches and playing with lethal weapons. They hadn't cared that she was a girl. Apparently, they hadn't _noticed_. Even now, trying to think of eligible Asgardian maidens, they had skipped over her.

Of course, it was hard to notice Hildy next to some of the other Asgardian maidens. Like Gersimi. Gersimi was one of those dainty little love goddesses, next to whom everyone else faded away – and yet, you couldn't even have the satisfaction of hating her for it. She was too sweet. You found yourself liking her against your will. And then you had to go off and join the Valkyrior just to get noticed again.

And the boys were probably off mortally insulting Gersimi right now—

-n-n-n-n-

"No, I'm not interested in getting married," Gersimi said prettily. "What's wrong?"

"Well," Magni said, twisting his hands, "there's been a bit of a problem—"

"We need you to marry a frost giant to turn him back into an Asgardian," Ull piped up.

Gersimi stared blankly at them. She was even shorter than Ull and had long golden braids that fell almost to her petal-soft bare feet.

"Are you jesting?" she asked.

"No," they said together.

"Well—" Her face puckered in confusion. "I'm—sorry, I don't think I can help you."

"Oh. Well. Thank you anyway," said Ull.

"Not even a little bit?" Magni said wistfully.

"No." She smiled apologetically.

"Oh well," Magni said. "Good-bye."

"Farewell," she said, and waited as they walked off.

"It occurs to me that we could have asked her to get married to him and then divorce him," Ull said. "He'd stay an Asgardian then, wouldn't he?"

"Uh, no, I don't think so."

"Oh. Hey, didn't Loki marry Sigyn? She's Asgardian."

"Yes, but he was never exactly faithful, and then he eventually left her."

"Oh, you mean when he married Hela and Fenrir and Jormungand's mother?" Ull said brightly.

"Er . . . yeh," Magni said, scratching his head. "Or maybe that was before."

"Hmm."

"Right," said Magni, wishing he didn't have to have this conversation with a twelve-year-old.

"So how many other eligible maidens do we know?"

-n-n-n-n-

Standing in the cave on Jotunheim, Bragmir drew back.

"You were—" he stammered.

"Kidnapped by Odin Allfather," Loki said. "He was . . . before your time. But I was much like you as a child. The small one, the strange one."

"Except that I'm not a kidnapper," Bragmir said.

"True," Loki said.

Something was happening to the room around them. It was melting, widening. A green couch appeared. Pears and green grapes and apples were in a green glass bowl on a little green marble table.

A cat walked across the room and rubbed against Bragmir's ankle. He'd never seen anything like it before, and he jumped with a yelp. Its fur was green, too.

A large window looked out on incredibly tall buildings that shone in the sun. Warmth flooded the air.

Bragmir ran to the window. "Is this an illusion?"

"Nope." Loki flopped down on the couch and smiled.

"Is this . . . _Midgard_?"

"Now, how could you have guessed that?"

Bragmir spun around. "You still haven't told me who I really am."

The Anger fought its way up inside him, burning away the soothing effects of Loki's voice.

A door slammed.

"Loki!" squealed a high-pitched voice. A moment later, a woman in a green leotard came rushing in, bags on both arms. She dumped them in a heap and sprang into Loki's arms. Her slippery-straight blond hair fell around her in folds and got in Loki's mouth and nose.

"I'm glad to see you too, Amora," he said, shoving her off him.

"Who am I?" Bragmir asked insistently.

"Ooh, yes, introduce us!" The blond woman, Amora, bounced up and down on her toes and clapped her hands together. Her smile seemed fake.

"Amora, this is Modi Thorson. Modi, this is the Enchantress. Be nice to her or she'll turn you into a toad."

Amora smiled brightly. Behind her eyes, something sinister lurked.

"What's a toad?" Bragmir asked. _Modi. He called me Modi._

"I can show—" Amora began.

Loki pushed her out of the way. "No, no, Amora. This one is my little project. Why don't you go out and shop some more?"

The green cat meowed.

"Oh—" Amora huffed in annoyance and picked the cat up. "Is someone hungry? Does someone need her kitty food? I'll be right back."

She walked off, holding the cat upside-down.

Bragmir and Loki both watched her go.

"Is she crazy?" Bragmir asked.

"Most supervillains are," Loki said. "Including me. I try not to let it go to my head, though."

"Oh, that's right," Bragmir said, fixing steely eyes on him. "Now. Did . . . you . . . kidnap . . . me?"

Loki smiled serenely. "Yes."

"Why?"

Loki shrugged.

The cat wandered back in and rubbed against Bragmir's legs. It began licking his toes and he jumped away.

-n-n-n-n-

The observatory spun to a stop.

Heimdall's sword arced in low. It would have cleaved Hela in half, but she just tapped at her iPod and stepped in, close to him. She pressed her hand once against his armored chest.

The armor shriveled, becoming scarred and discolored. Beneath his helmet, Heimdall's eyes went hazy and his face withered. He dropped his sword and collapsed to his knees, half-supported by Hela.

Hela smiled a little, bobbed her head to the music. She stepped away and the guardian of the Rainbow Bridge fell on his face.

She turned to walk away. One of Heimdall's hands crept forward, shaking, still trying to stop her. Then it stopped moving. Heimdall lay staring at the ground, for the first time seeing nothing.

Hela's soldiers marched after her, into Asgard.

-n-n-n-n-

_I don't think Hela spent all her time listening to an iPod in the comics, and I don't think the Enchantress was a complete ditz – she was boy-crazy, maybe, but not a ditz – but then again, these aren't the comics._

_The upcoming chapters might be pretty violent, what with the undead army marching into Asgard and all._


	16. Out of the Green Room

_Thank you Imperial Dragon, Dalekgirl, and silver colour, for reviewing. Imperial Dragon, to answer your question, we will find out shortly why Hela is attacking._

-n-n-n-n-

Amora bounded back into the green room. "I'm back! I found the kitty food! It fell down the laundry chute!" Then she stopped, puzzled. "Where's Mrs. Caldwell?"

"Who?"

"My cat," Amora said impatiently. "Kitty? Here, kitty . . ."

She looked around under the couch.

Loki cleared his throat. "If you're quite finished, Amora, we should be going."

She stood up, hair disheveled. "I can't find Mrs. Caldwell!"

She spun to face Bragmir. "Have you seen her?"

Bragmir glanced guiltily at Loki. Amora spun around again.

"_Loki! _What did you do to my baby kitty?"

Loki looked down at a green cat-shaped potholder on the coffee table—a potholder that had distinctly not been there when Amora left.

"Nooo!" Amora clutched it to her heart. "I'll fix you right away, Mrs. Caldwell!"

"Wasn't Mrs. Caldwell your landlady's name?" Loki asked.

Amora scowled. "That's none of your business."

"Oh, Amora." Loki wagged his finger at her. "Have you been using your magic for unethical purposes again?"

Amora fumed.

Something funny was happening to Bragmir's vision. The Anger was bubbling inside him, but it wasn't trying to get into his brain as usual. Instead, it was reaching across the room, towards Amora. He watched in fascination.

"You _idiot_!" she screamed at Loki, her manicured fingers curling into fists. She lashed out, dropping the potholder. He leaned back, looking a bit startled.

"I'll _kill _you!" Her eyes were bright red. She sent the bowl of fruit flying at him and then summoned energy around her hands, about to zap him.

Loki dove behind the couch. "Listen to me, Amora, you're overreacting . . ."

"AAAARRRGHHHH!" She charged after him.

Bragmir rattled the doorknob of the door. Something snapped and the door swung open, bowling him out into the hall. He stumbled for the exit, any exit, found a pair of double doors, and promptly fell down the stairs. Behind him, he felt the Anger release Amora and come flooding back to him.

Amora dropped her hands to her side.

"What . . ." She drew a shaking hand over her eyes, which had gone back to being green. "What just happened?"

Suddenly heavy iron chains materialized and wrapped around her from her chin to her ankles. The weight knocked her to the floor.

"Sorry, dear," Loki said, coming out from behind the couch. "They'll vaporize in a little while. In the meantime, I must be going."

"Loki! Loki, don't leave me here!" she whined.

He disappeared in a pop of light, and she groaned to herself.

"Why do these things always happen?"

-n-n-n-n-

It was a tall building, and Bragmir ran down those twisting stairs for what seemed like eons. At last he reached the bottom floor and burst out, only to find himself in the building's laundry room.

He turned around and went back. Puzzled, he ran up and down, looking for a door that would lead him out. At last he came into the lobby, where someone almost dropped a suitcase on his foot. Bragmir backed away, stepped through the automatic doors, and out into the warm sunlight.

The doors hissed shut behind him. He looked around and squinted. People were everywhere, going about their business—walking, driving, getting into cars, getting out of cars, studiously avoiding the weird tall blue kid in the middle of the sidewalk.

The man trying to park his car nearby was seething and fizzling with Anger. A woman hurried by with a stroller. She was nervous and upset and Anger prickled at the edges of her eyes.

Bragmir dug the heels of his hands into his eyes and then moved off, trying to clear his head with motion.

Before long, a long black car spun up next to him and the door flew open. A man in dark glasses and a black suit said, "Get in."

Bragmir reluctantly got in. The man waited for him to get buckled and then, as another man in the driver's seat started the car, handed Bragmir a funny little box.

"Coulson wants to talk to you," he said.

Bragmir looked at the box and shook it.

"Uh, you hold it to your . . . ear."

Bragmir gave the man a long stare. The Anger was asleep inside this one, but it would be easy to stir it up . . .

Bragmir shook his head, hard, and put the little box next to his ear.

"—llo?" Coulson's voice came faintly through the box. "Hello, is anyone there?"

"I'm here."

"Who's 'I'?"

"Bragmir."

"Okay then." Coulson paused. "And no, I'm not trapped in a tiny box."

"What? I thought you were just sending your voice through it."

"Um… so you _do _know what phones are?"

"No, what's a phone?"

"Well, you said—"

"_We do have some magic on Jotunheim, thank you_."

"Fine, sorry. So what are you doing on Earth, Bragmir?"

"I was brought here by Loki."

There was a long pause.

"Are you still there?" Bragmir asked.

"Where is Loki now?" Coulson asked in a hard, flat, urgent voice.

"I just escaped. He was in a very tall building just back there—" Bragmir pointed, forgetting for a moment that Coulson couldn't see him. But the men in the car could.

One of them tapped his ear and began muttering, "I can still see the building, people spotted him coming out of the door earlier, what floor? I don't know, I'll ask him—"

"Was there anyone with him?" Coulson asked in that same urgent voice.

"A woman named Amora, and a green cat."

There was a quick snapping noise and Coulson's voice could be heard, far away from the phone, shouting something quickly. He came back to the phone after a minute. "You've been a big help, Bragmir. We're going to have to ask you a few more questions, though."

"All right, but—"

The car screeched to a stop. The passengers all lurched forward. The driver plied the horn urgently, with a _blaap blaap_.

"Get out of the road!" he shouted.

The door swung open and Loki peeped in. "Oh, there you are, Bragmir. You stormed off so suddenly."

"Aagh!" said Bragmir, recoiling.

"Don't worry, I'm just giving you your return ticket."

The next thing Bragmir knew, he was standing on a snowy ridge in the middle of Jotunheim, with neither Loki nor the Midgardians anywhere in sight.

S.H.I.E.L.D. found Amora chained up on her penthouse floor. As soon as they took her into custody, most of the contents of her home vaporized to reveal much shabbier furnishings. A green potholder became a very confused building owner, who proceeded to wander around saying "Meow" and sitting on countertops for several months.

Any trail Loki had left was nowhere to be seen. And, as everyone knows, out of sight is out of mind . . .

-n-n-n-n-

Ull was carrying a list scribbled on a sheet of parchment. "Um . . . how about Ebba?"

"We've already asked her!" Magni said.

"I don't understand why nobody wants to marry Bragmir," Ull said impatiently. "He won't _stay _blue, and he's a prince."

"Did you hear that?" Magni asked. There was a faint roaring, a clattering of swords and shields, coming from the direction of the city gates.

Ull thought, tapping a quill pen to his chin. "Hmm . . . Nyamh? We can't ask any of the Valkyries . . ."

"No, really, do you hear that? It sounds like someone's in trouble."

Hogun came running past them, his club at the ready. He stopped, seized Ull by the shoulder.

"Go home," he said.

"Home? But—"

Hogun took off again, running towards the disturbance.

"I need a sword," Magni said.

"There are plenty at my house," Ull said with a shrug. "What kind do you want? Scramasax, spatha, seax—"

"Just a sword! Come _on_!" Magni charged towards Ull's house.

-n-n-n-n-

"Father, can I borrow your axe?" Rolfe asked excitedly, swinging it around. Alaric ducked just in time.

"Give me that!" cried Volstagg. "All right, everybody, your mother is still at market. Hildy has command. Now defend the walls of our dwelling while I am gone!"

He rushed off, swinging the axe.

"All right!" Hildy clapped her hand. "Everyone inside!"

She began to count heads.

"Do we get snacks, Hildy?"

"No! Yes! Maybe! _Gudrun, stop pulling Flosi's hair!_"

There was no time to wish for combat. There was only time to arm oneself and get to safety.

-n-n-n-n-

"Thor! What's going on?" demanded Jane, rushing towards him. He was in full battle armor, fitting on his helmet.

"We're being attacked," he said, rushing towards the door.

"What should we do?"

"Stay here," he said. "Keep the guards with you. This should not last long."

He picked up Mjollnir and spun it in a circle.

"_Thor_—" began Jane.

He threw his arm in the air and Mjollnir pulled him skyward. All Jane could see was the distant flap of the red cape.

"Where he going, Mommy?" asked Thrud from behind her.

Jane took a deep breath.

"Let's go inside, sweetie," she said.

-n-n-n-n-

_Okay, so we didn't find out in this chapter. Next chapter then, maybe!_


	17. The Broken Curse

_Thank you, Resisting the Borg, for reviewing. (Hey! I finished NaNoWriMo already! Now I can devote even more of my time to putzing around on the Internet!)_

_Brief recap: Loki brought Bragmir briefly to Midgard and then sent him back to Jotunheim. While on Midgard, Bragmir heard Loki refer to him as "Modi" and realized that he could control the Anger in other people._

_On Asgard, battle is commencing and we're not sure why. Meanwhile, Vali has taken Nari to see Loki._

-n-n-n-n-

Nari staggered away from Vali. They stood on a tiny grassy platform suspended in space. A stunted little tree leaned over the edge, clinging half-heartedly with exposed roots. In the center of the platform there was a ratty couch and a small cooler.

"What is this place?"

"A safe place, on one of the tendrils of Yggdrasil," Vali said. "Too small to really be a realm."

Loki appeared in a flash of light.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked. "How did you find this place?"

"He popped up in Hel looking for you," Vali said, ignoring the second question.

"Father?" Nari slowly approached Loki. "Is it really you?"

"Of course it is," Loki said.

"Well, I'd better be going," Vali said reluctantly. "Have to catch up with Hela." He vanished.

Nari wavered. He felt like either screaming and knocking things over, or giving his father a hug . . .

"Why did you leave me?" he asked.

"Why didn't you come with me?" Loki countered.

"That's not fair."

"Well, you were fine, weren't you?"

"No! No, I wasn't fine! Everyone calls me the traitor's son, and I can't stop them because I know it's _true_—"

"I'm not a traitor," Loki said. "I'm just looking after myself. The world would be a lot simpler if everyone looked after themselves and didn't worry about the rest of it."

Nari's mouth opened and closed silently.

"That's not fair," he said in a small voice.

Loki looked around. "Want to go get some sushi?"

"Did you kidnap Modi, father?"

"Yes, I did," Loki said, chewing on his lip with an air of satisfaction.

"Why?"

Loki shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

"No, _why did you do it_?" Nari's voice rose. "That's not a 'good idea at the time' answer! That question requires a good—a _brilliant _answer!"

Loki opened the fridge to take out a soda.

Nari continued. "You _kidnapped _a _child_! How can you possibly justify that?"

Loki took a long swig and sighed in satisfaction.

"Even if you're just looking out for yourself, h-how—how does destroying a life like that make things better for you?" Nari was almost screaming.

Loki lay back. "Well, there's looking out for yourself, and there's also indulging in a bit of harmful fun."

"AND WHY CAN'T I BREAK YOUR SPELL?"

"Hmm? What spell?"

"You know what spell," Nari snarled. "The one that turned Modi into a frost giant. I can cast or remove any spell, _except that one_. What did you do to him?"

"Oh, that one. Well, it's a bit complicated, but I'll try to put it simply for you."

"I'm not a baby," snapped Nari.

Loki ignored him. "I intertwined my curse with his, so that as long as I'm an Asgardian, he's a frost giant."

"Can you undo it?"

"Oh, sure." Loki snapped his fingers. "There. Done."

-n-n-n-n-

Bragmir was knee-deep in snow when he was knocked onto his back by a wave of blistering heat. He sat up blearily. The cool snow began to prickle insistently at his skin.

He got up. The chill wind ruffled his hair. He shivered a little and hugged his shoulders.

The cold of the snow seeped through his skin, deeper and deeper, and began to burn. He jumped. The cold was tearing his skin away, burning him up to a frozen crisp. He shivered violently.

He looked down at his arms, his hands, his feet. He was pink. He quickly brought his hands to his face, feeling it in a panic. His features felt the same as always, but . . . he was an Asgardian.

He didn't have time to let this sink in. He was lightly clad. There was shelter nowhere in sight.

Was it possible to freeze to death? he wondered. He decided "yes." It hurt just to _exist _right now.

He remembered the Anger—how he could wade through a bunch of Asgardian guards with swords, or face down an enraged and toothy ice bear, and not receive the smallest cut.

"How dare they?" he muttered, and immediately felt the Anger roiling inside of him.

"What have they done to me?" He didn't know who 'they' were, but words irritated the Anger. In fact, it was clutching at his brain right now, telling him to run, to fight, to kill, to _survive_ . . .

-n-n-n-n-

"So he's back to normal now?" Nari asked, not sure whether he should feel appeased or not.

"Oh, yes." Loki closed his eyes and took a luxurious sip of his soda. A sarcastic smile played across his face. "He is indeed."

"Well, then," Nari said awkwardly. "I . . . I guess I'll go home now."

"Off you go, then."

Nari just stood there, looking at him. Loki finally opened his eyes and looked at him in annoyance.

"What are you still doing here?"

"How come you never visit?"

"I'm a busy man. People take care of you, don't they?"

"Yes."

"Then you should be fine."

"Has it ever occurred to you to wonder _who_ takes care of me?" Nari muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Well, farewell."

Nari opened and closed his mouth like a fish. Finally, he vanished.

Loki sat silently, turning the soda can back and forth. He frowned a little.

Why did he suddenly feel so worried?

-n-n-n-n-

Shadows blocked out the sun for a moment—shadows cast by flying horses. The Valkyries were coming.

They had no time to stop and collect souls. The horses dropped from the sky to gallop across roofs and then roads. The Valkyries were singing their battle-song.

They fought and fought, but their enemies only got back up again.

-n-n-n-n-

The battle outside was getting worse. Flosi tipped a bowl of boiling water over the windowsill and watched as it splashed, steaming, off the head and shoulders of a soldier climbing the wall. He didn't even blink, just kept climbing, even when the empty bowl bounced off his head.

Hildy yanked her back and slammed the window shut. "What did I _tell _you?"

"To stay away from the—"

"Close the windows! _Close all the windows_!" Hildy wrenched her father's ceremonial battleaxe down from above the mantel. Staying inside simply would not cut it anymore.

"Stay here," she told the little ones. They looked up at her with wide, round eyes.

She stormed out, dragging the heavy axe behind her.

One of the enemy soldiers swung his sword towards her. Someone shoved her out of the way before the sword could reach its target.

"Hah!" Rolfe said, parrying.

Hildy got up resentfully, rubbing a scratch on her elbow. She reached down to pick up the axe.

Rolfe ran the soldier through and danced back, red and out of breath. Alaric ran by, waving a sword and whooping.

"You idiots are going to get yourselves killed," Hildy said.

"We stand a better chance than you do." Rolfe stuck his tongue out. "Go back inside and take care of the babies, silly girl."

"I'll 'silly girl' you—!"

"Be quiet, I'm fighting," Rolfe said, chopping away at the advancing soldiers.

-n-n-n-n-

"This one is double-edged," began Ull, pulling swords down off the rack on the wall. "But if you want a long range weapon—"

Magni seized the hilt of the biggest, heaviest weapon he saw – a huge black thing that probably would have been more suited to chopping down trees.

"For Asgaaarrd!" he roared, charging out of the weapons room and swinging the sword. He brought down several decorative torch holders before he even left the building.

Ull listened to the crashing die away in the distance, fading into the background noise of battle and the rising song of the Valkyries.

He hated fighting. He was small and light, compared to most of his friends – even Nari was taller than him. But he _was_ Sif's son, and something stirred in him at the call to arms.

He went off to find his skis.

-n-n-n-n-

Hela paid no attention to the warriors rushing her. Some she tapped gently, and they immediately curled up and died. Others she simply sidestepped, and they rushed headlong into the arms of her soldiers.

A gentle flash of light later, and Vali swung into step next to her.

"Good to see you, older sister," he said nonchalantly, swinging out with his sword and bringing down an Asgardian. "Heh! First try!"

Hela grunted. She was engrossed in her music.

Vali looked back at the soldiers. They were tall and skinny, short and fat, but they were all carrying identical swords and wearing simple gray cloaks and hoods that hid their faces. None of them made a sound.

"Where did you find all these people?" he asked.

"You'd be surprised how many mortals are eager to trade for immortality," Hela mumbled.

"Hmm. Well, good job. They look perfectly happy to lay waste to Asgard."

"Mm-hmm."

"Father'd be proud," Vali muttered, and a warm glow filled him. "Well, I'd best be off. I have to get to Bilskirnir."

This would get _anyone's _attention.

-n-n-n-n-

_So Hela and Vali are doing this for Loki's attention. Ooh, and Bragmir's an Asgardian now! And he's about to be an icicle, but we'll get to that later._


	18. Anyone Can Die

_Thank you, Dalekgirl, for reviewing._

-n-n-n-n-

Fasolt had been out on a long patrol for days now, hunting down a particularly elusive pack of mastodons.

"What's that?" he said, spotting something on the horizon. The others turned to look. Gymir shouldered his axe and Baugi put an arrow to the string.

Then their collective faces fell.

"Whatever it is, it's mad," said Snorri, watching a distant figure stagger back and forth and bat at the falling snow. It was shrouded by the snow, turning it gray and wavery.

"Yeh. Won't catch me going after a mad beast," Baugi said, nodding and setting down his bow. "Let's get out of here."

"I think it's . . . a jotun," Fasolt said, squinting. "It's walking on its hind legs, and—"

"Too small to be a jotun," Gymir said. He readjusted the collar of his bear-fur cloak. He claimed to have killed the ice bear single-handedly. So what if he got hot and sweaty whenever he wore the cloak? It was his prize possession.

"Bragmir!" Fasolt brightened up. "I'll be right back."

"Fasolt, stop!" Snorri shouted. "You can't just go running off whenever you see—"

Fasolt skidded down a small cliff, snow crumbling under his bare feet, and took off at a run. His pack, bow and quiver bounced on his back.

He rounded a turn and could suddenly see the staggering figure clearly through the flurries of white. It was a young Asgardian, snarling and mumbling to himself in fury, trying to fight the very air around him as he staggered along. His eyes were glowing dark red, and his clothes were familiar—

Fasolt backed up very quickly.

"Um, Bragmir?" he said hesitantly.

The madman stared wildly at him. His fists curled and uncurled.

Fasolt backed up some more. "I'll just be going, I think."

The red eyes faded. Bragmir rubbed his eyes hard and stared blankly at him.

"Oh, hello, Fasolt," he said, wobbling. "Where'd you come from?"

He shuddered deeply. Tiny bumps covered his skin, as if he was a plucked bird being prepared for dinner.

"Are you all right?" Fasolt asked hesitantly.

"I feel great!" Bragmir said. Then he lay down and curled into a ball, and began freezing to death.

-n-n-n-n-

Back-to-back, Sif and Hogun fought like wildcats.

"We could use a little help here," Sif grunted.

"What help?" pointed out Hogun. There was no one in sight but the enemy.

"For Asgard!" yelled a shrill voice. One of the soldiers went down with a whack from a ski. "And for . . . for nice hats!"

Still fighting, Sif and Hogun exchanged glances.

"Would you rather borrow my sword, Ull?" Sif shouted.

One of the soldiers tottered by and collapsed with a moan.

"I am doing just fine!" Ull yelled. "These things can do a lot of damage, you know!"

He whirled, stabbing with his ski pole.

"If we survive," Hogun said, "we shall take a family ski trip."

"My goodness, Hogun," said Sif, with a grim little smile. "That was almost optimistic of you."

"I said _if_."

"Right."

-n-n-n-n-

In Bilskirnir, guards fought the invading forces in the halls. Even Jane's sanctum, the room where she did her computer work, had been raided.

Jane did not allow people to invade her sanctum.

She skipped out of the way and the soldier who had been rushing towards her crashed out of the window. He slid down the broad roof in a shower of glass.

"Too loud!" Thrud yelled, with her hands over her ears.

"Sorry, sweetie," Jane said, twirling to bring down a large book on the head of another soldier.

One of the soldiers reached out to grab Thrud. He had only to touch her before electricity arced through his body.

He said, "Blb," shuddered all over, and assumed a graceful position on the floor.

"Good girl!" Jane crowed. "_That's _my little Taser girl!"

-n-n-n-n-

One moment Hildy was watching Rolfe fight, huffing and puffing—he'd been eating a little more and exercising a little less, recently. The next he was lying on the ground bleeding, and she was running and someone was screaming AAAaaaAAAaaaAAAaaa and Volstagg's ceremonial battleaxe was swinging . . .

Rolfe's erstwhile opponent collapsed. Hildy flung the battleaxe to the side and hunched over her brother.

"Rolfe? _Rolfe_?"

He wasn't moving, wasn't breathing—

Behind her, the collapsed soldier shook his head and got up slowly. He bent his head back and forth, swung his arms, as the axe wound knitted itself together into a scar. He picked up his fallen sword, looked at the oblivious Hildy, and raised it to stab.

"FOR ASGARD!" Magni said, belting him over the head.

Hildy looked around.

"What are you doing here?" she croaked. She was crying. She had to stop crying. She couldn't see who to fight.

"I came to make sure you were all right."

"I'm fine." She stood up stiffly and picked up the battleaxe. "Let's go kill people."

-n-n-n-n-

"Fasolt, put it down. It's not jotnar."

Fasolt looked down at Bragmir, who he was carrying with slight difficulty. It was like carrying a child who was barely light enough to be carried and too large to be held.

"He's still a frost giant," Fasolt said stubbornly. "He's been cursed."

The other hunters looked at each other in exasperation.

"Gymir, give me your cloak!" Fasolt demanded.

"What? Why?" Gymir clutched his bearskin around him.

"You don't need it. Everyone knows you sweat like an ice beast in Muspelheim when you're wearing it. We can put it on Bragmir. Asgardians put warm furry things on their heads when they're cold, don't they?"

"You just said he was a frost giant!"

"Well, obviously he's been cursed to look like an Asgardian."

Bragmir was fading. He had the vaguest impression of Fasolt looking down at him and speaking, but he couldn't hear the words.

At least he wasn't cold anymore. The feeling had seeped out of him, leaving him light, empty, numb. He didn't feel the itch of fur being wrapped around him, and he didn't hear Fasolt arguing with the others about fire . . .

. . . just peace . . .

. . . darkness . . .

He lay so still that it took Fasolt a few minutes to realize that he was dead.

-n-n-n-n-

_Death toll so far: Heimdall, Rolfe Volstaggson, Bragmir, and a whole bunch of Asgardians whose names I can't remember._

_Well, I'm looking forward to the next chapter! How about you guys?_


	19. Loopholes

_Thank you, Imperial Dragon, silver colour, and Dalekgirl, for reviewing. _

_My computer crashed, so I'm typing this on my mom's Netbook and I CAN'T CONTROL THE TOUCHPAD AAIIIEEEEE!_

-n-n-n-n-

The shade floated towards the gates of Hel. Looking fascinated, it waved a gauzy arm in front of its face. It had a faint impression of cold. Slowly it realized that it was dead.

Death was actually pretty disappointing.

There was a cloudy spot in front of the gates—a crowd of shades, constantly being added to as new ones fluttered down from the direction of Asgard.

_What's the matter_? asked the cold shade.

_No one's here to let us in._

_We must wait._

_Why? _asked the cold shade.

The other shades looked disapproving.

_What is your name?_

The cold shade had to think about it for a second.

People talk about seeing your life flash before your eyes all the time. They usually assume that it happens before death. In fact, dead people see their life flash before their metaphorical eyes all the time. It's part of remembering—a montage, one might say, of life. The dead have to remember—memories are all they have left.

The cold shade had died so recently that he had to get his bearings. When he found them, he plunged into his memories, trying to find his name.

_In the beginning it was dark and warm, and a while after the beginning it stopped being dark and warm, and he lay in his crib and people looked over the edge and said _Oos a big boy, then? Oos going to grow up to be just like his daddy? _And then there was one, in the night, who picked him up and said _Shh-sh! Don't wanna wake up Mommy and Daddy, do we? _And he was taken away, given to someone else, and it was so cold, and why did they keep calling him Bragmir? Didn't they know his name was—_

—_was—_

_Modi_, said the cold shade. _It was Modi._

_Oh, I remember you_, said a shade who seemed unusually bloody. _Where have you been?_

_Never mind that_, said another, who had a faint impression of headlessness. _When do we get inside?_

_I don't know, _said another._ I don't want to go inside._

_I know_! chimed in another. _I died a warrior's death! Where are all those Valkyries, I want to know? I should be stuffing my face in Valhalla right now . . ._

_Didn't even get a funeral, _added another, sadly.

A new shade appeared, drifting towards the gates. The others flooded towards it, leaving Modi behind.

_We know you! What news? What news of Asgard?_

The new shade took a few minutes, figuring out that it was dead and so forth. Then it spoke.

_It's not going well. There should be another bunch of shades along in a moment._

_It's not fair! _went up the collective groan. _Why do we have to be dead? No funerals, no mourning, no Valhalla—we can't even get into Hel . . ._

_Can't we go back? _Modi asked. He had spotted some strange shades, an eerie gray color, which flew up to the gates and immediately shot back off towards their point of origin.

_Don't be ridiculous. There's no going back once you're dead._

_Are you sure?_

_Well—_

_No one's letting us in, _Modi pointed out, _so we might as well go back and wait at home. I didn't get a funeral, either._

There was a long pause.

_Good point._

_Should we leave a note? 'Gone home to have a funeral, back in an hour' sort of thing?_

_What would we write it on?_

_Uh . . ._

_We don't want to come back in an hour, you idiot! We don't want to come back at _all_! Will you get your priorities straight?_

Modi ignored them and began swimming back towards Jotunheim. He distinctly remembered where he'd left his body.

He was satisfied when he saw that the other shades were slowly following him.

-n-n-n-n-

"He's gone, Fasolt," said Gymir.

Fasolt gently prodded the limp little body. "No . . . no, he can't be gone, I wrapped him up to keep him warm and everything . . ."

"I'd _like _my _furs _back now," Gymir persisted. "You're not . . . crying, are you?"

"No," Fasolt said, wiping his nose.

"Keep the furs for a minute," Gymir said. "I'll just . . . leave you alone . . ."

The hunters walked down the slope, out of the line of vision.

"I'm sorry," Fasolt mouthed. "I'm sorry, sorry . . ."

Bragmir coughed.

Fasolt was so surprised, he fell over backwards.

Bragmir coughed again. A snowflake caught on his eyelashes and melted.

"Brrr-rr," he said.

-n-n-n-n-

"Come and get it, you worms!" Hildy screamed, swinging the battleaxe like a true Valkyrie. "Come and get iiit!"

The enemy soldiers just got back up.

Magni looked up and realized that she'd somehow worked herself to the other end of the courtyard—away from anyone who would have been protecting her back.

"Hildy!" he shouted, to no avail.

She was at the middle of a tight, advancing circle of weapons. Magni began thrashing his way through, but there was no way he'd get there fast enough.

Hildy couldn't really see through the film of tears. She just lashed out with the axe. There were so many enemies around her, she was bound to hit one of them.

"AAAAA!" roared Rolfe's voice.

Hildy looked up blankly in time to see Rolfe launch himself off a wall and descend upon the soldiers.

"You're not dead!" Hildy flung herself on him as soon as there was breathing space.

"'Course I'm not," he said in annoyance. "But hey, look, I got a scar. Girls like scars, right?"

"Idiot," she muttered.

"Um . . . welcome back?" Magni said helplessly.

-n-n-n-n-

"Were you—you were dead!" Fasolt kept yelling.

"I think I was just asleep," Bragmir said.

"Was there a bright light? Were you visited by ancient ones who have gone before?"

"No," said Bragmir. "I think I was just asleep."

The cold gnawed at him, and he drew the bear fur closer around himself. He winced a little when he realized what it was, but kept it on. Even ice bears died for a purpose.

He remembered having some kind of dream—there had been a gate, or maybe that had just been his imagination. And Asgard was in danger.

"Is this Gymir's?" he asked, tugging at the fur.

"Yes. I thought, Asgardians usually get cold here, so—"

"Thank him for me and tell him I'll return it as soon as I can."

"Where're you going?"

Bragmir looked up at the sky and shouted, "Heimdall? Open the Bifrost!"

Falling snow was louder than the silence that followed.

"I don't think anything's happening," Fasolt said.

There was a roar as light shot through the sky and Bragmir was caught up in the Bifrost. Fasolt flew backwards, rolling down the snowy hill past Gymir.

"Hey!" Gymir yelled. "What's going on? Where are my furs?"

-n-n-n-n-

Bragmir tottered for a second and put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. He looked up to see Heimdall standing in the center of the observatory with his sword plunged into its slot. His armor was badly dented and pierced.

"Hi," Bragmir gasped.

Heimdall's eyes crinkled in the faintest of smiles.

Bragmir took off running out of the observatory and along the bridge. Smoke was rising from Asgard and carrion birds were circling. The Anger rose inside him and his feet quickened into a blur.

He felt no fatigue as he entered the city, but he got a nasty shock when the first Asgardian corpse he saw leaped to its feet. It gave a nasty grin and went running off.

All over the city, fallen Asgardians were bouncing up and getting back to fighting. The wounds that had killed them were suddenly healed.

Bragmir watched them all for a moment. The Anger raced out of him, entering them. Their eyes began to glow red. Weapons bounced off them. They felt neither pain nor fatigue.

And they were very, very angry.

"I WANT A FUNERAAALLLL!" screamed one, as he barreled past.

Bragmir briefly considered the fact that he may have overdone it. Then one of the enemy soldiers jumped on him and he had to push him off.

-n-n-n-n-

A flash of green, and Magni spun around to battle a new enemy. He recognized Nari's face just in time, and twisted to avoid striking him. His fists sank deep into a wall.

"Where have you been?" Magni grunted, pulling back.

"Looking for somebody," Nari said. "What's going on? Who are all these people?"

"I don't know," Magni said. "Just . . . random attackers, I suppose."

"Is anyone with Aunt Jane?" Nari asked, turning a charging soldier into a small frog.

"Nari, you've known my mother long enough to know that she can take care of herself."

"I just have a bad feeling."

"Fine. Go check on her. And hurry back!"

Nari was gone before he could finish the last sentence.

-n-n-n-n-

Thor soared for a minute, and then came plummeting down to land with a crack that shattered pavement. Thunder rolled overhead.

Someone ran smack into him.

"Here—" Thor caught the boy by the shoulder. "Magni, what have I told you about running into battle?"

"I'm not Magni," Bragmir said.

Thor looked at him for a long time before a smile crept over his face.

"So you aren't," he finally said.

Something burned in his eyes that had not been seen for fifteen years. He swung Mjollnir over his shoulder, knocking out a soldier.

"I knew you'd come back," he murmured.

-n-n-n-n-

_All right, forget what I said about the death toll. Everyone's back!_


	20. Sons of Loki

_Thank you, Imperial Dragon, Dalekgirl, Nobel Six, and Resisting the Borg, for reviewing. I'm changing the rating to K+ for violence (since most of the story is still pretty much non-violent) but let me know if I should raise it._

-n-n-n-n-

The last of the soldiers had vanished from the computer room, mostly via the window. Jane looked around, gasping and grinning.

"That was good, Thrud," she said.

A boy in blue, several years older than Magni, leaned in the doorway. He smirked and moved forward.

"Hello, your majesty," he said mockingly. "This must be your daughter, Thud."

"_Thrud_!" the toddler corrected him.

Jane scooped her daughter into her arms. "Vali, is that you?"

"Yes."

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm here to finish you off."

Jane snatched up a sword from one of the wall displays.

"Just try it," she snapped.

He lunged. She screamed and rolled back. Thrud scampered into a corner and hid.

There was a brief battle over the sword. He tore it away from her and sent it spinning across the room. Jane struggled up and tried to run. He knocked her down again.

"Have you ever met my brother, Fenrir?" he asked in a low voice.

"Thor! _Thor_!"

Vali shapeshifted, dropping to all fours. His face lengthened and he growled.

"Mommy!" screamed Thrud.

Vali was gone. It was a huge wolf preparing to leap on Jane with great claws and teeth.

Out of the corner of Jane's eye, she saw a flash of green light.

"That's enough, Vali," Nari said, in a small but determined voice.

The beast's growl turned into a roar. Nari darted in between it and its prey, firing bolts of energy from his hands.

The beast lunged for him, knocking him out of the window and skidding down the roof. Nari rolled to a halt and started to get up. He pulled a tiny knife out of his belt, the kind made more for cutting string than for cutting the enemy. The beast plunged after him.

In the beast's head, anything that had once been capable of thought was swallowed up by hunger and rage.

Everything was a whirl of blood and fur and blinding pain. Nari crumpled on the ground, his small knife spinning out of reach. The thing that had been his brother drew back, jaws widening into a chasm, teeth like daggers. It threw its head back and howled.

Jane crept up behind him with the sword. She closed her eyes and stabbed. The long lonely howl was cut off with a whimper.

Jane set her boot against the broad back and took hold of the hilt, to try to pull it out. The beast writhed, knocking her away. She tumbled off the edge of the roof and barely managed to catch the edge. She dangled there, listening to the whimpers and grumbles of pain. Nails clicked on the roof frantically, faster and faster, slipping.

The beast fell past with a yelp.

"Help me!" Jane shouted.

"Mommy?" whimpered Thrud.

"Thrud, go get Daddy!"

"I go get Daddy." Thrud scampered away.

Jane listened to distant yells and screams, the wailing of the wind, and the occasional noise from Nari.

"Nari?" she said gently. "Nari, sweetie, can you hear me?"

He didn't answer.

"Hang on, Nari. Help is . . ." She considered their respective situations. ". . . coming."

A footstep. Help really had come!

"Someone, anyone!" Jane shouted. "Who's up there?"

"Hello, Jane," said Loki's voice. She looked up in alarm and saw his narrow face glinting down at her.

"_You_! You're behind all this!"

"Actually I'm not. But I must say my son and daughter took wonderful initiative."

"I'm going to kill you! Your _son _is _dying _over there!"

Loki was silent.

"So he is," he said somberly.

"Help me up!" She looked up, but his face was gone. She let out a loud groan. "I want to _help _Nari! If you're any sort of father at all . . ."

"Why are you so worried?" Loki asked, genuinely curious.

"He's my nephew!" Jane screamed. "Leave me if you want, but save him!"

Loki muttered something. It sounded like "So someone did take care of him."

"What?" Jane asked, gasping.

Fingers dug into her hand. Loki pulled her up, bit by bit, struggling. She breathed hard and slumped with her forehead against the warm, metallic roof.

"All right," she said, straightening up. "Help me get him to the houses of healing."

Green light flared. A second later, she was kneeling on the floor of Balder's empty palace. War never touched Balder's home.

"Now help me get him into a bed," Jane said. This floor of the palace was filled with identical white beds. Sometimes people came down here just to rest and have free food. Balder and his family never turned anyone away. Jane had a suspicion that these beds would be taken up with genuinely injured people for quite a while.

Nari made a bubbling noise as they lifted him into the nearest bed. Jane had been planning to stab Loki with the first sharp implement she found, but right now she was totally taken up with caring for Nari.

"Now what?" Loki asked, looking panicked.

"I have a friend who's a doctor," Jane said, rushing for bandages and medicine.

She heard a whoosh of air. There was a yelp.

"Dude!" shrieked Dr. Darcy Lewis. "You can't just pop up in my office! That was abduction! I am calling— ohmigosh."

She had just spotted Nari.

"Okay, I need . . ." Darcy ran through a short list of materials. Jane quickly bundled them out of the cabinets and off the shelves.

Darcy pointed to Loki. "You, you can go away now. You're annoying."

"But—"

"Aunt Jane?" wheezed Nari.

"Yes, I'm here." Jane bent over him. "Don't be scared."

"Wh . . ."

"Quiet," Darcy said, getting to work.

"Aun' Jane . . ."

"Shh," Jane said, patting his hair gingerly. "It's okay."

Loki backed farther and farther away. His face was tortured. Finally, with a flick of his cloak, he vanished.

-n-n-n-n-

The shade drifted to the gates of Hel. It looked around in confusion. No one else was there.

_Hmm_, said the shade of Vali.

And it picked the lock on the gates and let itself in.

-n-n-n-n-

"Don't let it get back up!" Ull shouted as the latest soldier collapsed.

Hogun waited, club at the ready. And waited. And waited . . .

He gingerly prodded the body.

It didn't get back up.

"I wonder what's wrong?" Ull asked.

"There's one coming up behind you," Hogun said.

"Oh," Ull said, spinning around.

The gates of Hel had been opened.

-n-n-n-n-

"They aren't getting up anymore," Bragmir said. A soldier rushed him and he ducked. The soldier went rolling over him and Thor whacked him as soon as he landed. Bragmir stood back up and brushed himself off.

"The question is, are _we _getting up?" Thor asked.

"_We're _not dying," Bragmir said, with a scarlet wink.

Hela was sitting on a wall, swinging her feet idly, when they came to her.

"Surrender!" Thor shouted.

"Mm-hmm," she said. Then she looked up, looked around, and saw that her soldiers were falling like autumn leaves.

"Oh," she said. "Someone must have opened the gates."

Quick as an arrow, she lunged, trying to touch Thor. Her hand glowed with deathly energies. It bumped against Bragmir as he flung himself in between them.

Behind her mask, Hela looked puzzled.

"Why aren't you dying?" she asked. Then she took a second look at his glowing red eyes.

"Oh drat."

"It's over, Hela," thundered Thor. The sky rumbled in response.

She shrugged. "Fine. But I demand the souls."

"What souls?" growled Bragmir.

"The souls lost from your Asgardians, the ones who died. They tried to come back."

"They made it back," Bragmir said smugly.

"But they belong to me."

"No," said Thor. "They don't. If they came back, then you must have forfeited them."

"You closed your gates," Bragmir said. "I remember."

Hela thought about it for a minute.

"That's true," she said. "Hmm. I'll have to think that out better next time."

Then she vanished, leaving only an empty pocket of air and Asgard full of dying enemy soldiers.


	21. Apology

_Thank you, Imperial Dragon, for reviewing._

-n-n-n-n-

"Father!" Magni tackle-hugged Thor as soon as he saw him. "We won!"

Then he saw Bragmir lingering back, picking at the edges of his fur cloak.

"_Bragmir_?"

His brother nodded.

"You broke the curse! How did you do it?"

"Does this mean we're not finding him a bride anymore?" Ull shouted from across the courtyard.

"What?" Bragmir asked, startled.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," Magni assured him.

-n-n-n-n-

When Hela got back to her gloomy halls, Vali was waiting for her.

"It's about time," he said. "Where have you been? It's not all fun and games down here, you know—"

"How'd you get in?" she asked, unamused.

"Had to open the gates myself." Vali smoothed back his hair. He still looked a little bit wolfy around the edges.

"I closed the gates so none of our forces could die."

"You . . . uh, you did?" Vali had the facial expression of someone who'd just realized that he's sealed his own doom.

"Yes."

"Well, that explains why the Asgardians started popping up like daisies, too, all of a sudden," he said viciously. "They must have figured it out."

She gave the grumpy sigh of someone forced to concede a point, and pushed a hand through him. He scattered like mist.

"Just because I'm dead doesn't mean you can do that!" he shouted, coalescing farther down the hall.

Hela sat down on her little stool and set down her iPod. She clapped her hands for her music to begin.

Nothing happened.

"Wha . . ." She clapped harder, twice. Then she stood up in an angry sweep of her cloak. "Vali! What did you do?"

"He didn't do anything," said Loki silkily.

"Father?"

"Or rather, he did do something. He failed to succeed in destroying Asgard, and he got himself killed, after trying to murder his little brother."

"Well . . ." Hela thought about it for a minute. "I didn't do any of that."

"Well, you completely failed to succeed in destroying Asgard, too," Loki said. He picked up her iPod and pocketed it.

"That's mine!"

"Yes," he said, "but you're grounded."

"You can't ground me! I'm the goddess of death!"

"Nevertheless you are grounded, until you bring your brother back to life and ensure that Nari does not die." He looked past her. "That goes for you, too, Vali!"

Vali groaned.

-n-n-n-n-

It was dark in the house of Thor.

Thor sat on the bench in front of the broad window and looked out over starlit Asgard. Towers had crumbled and fallen today, and he didn't recognize the skyline.

No one knew where Hela and Vali's soldiers had come from, and their bodies had crumbled away into dust a few minutes after Hela left. Vali's body had vanished without a trace.

For the Asgardians, there was a death total of two. A rural shopkeeper and a young noble, the victims had been among the few fighters on the outskirts, who had been too far away from Bragmir to receive the blessing of battle rage, and had gotten to Hel after the gates had opened. They were now in Valhalla.

Jane was asleep with Thrud curled up next to her. In the adjoining room, Magni slept—and in the room beyond that rested Modi. Nari was still in the houses of healing, hovering somewhere between life and death. No one was allowed in his room with him at this point, except for the healers.

Soft feet, like cats' feet, whispered on the floor. Thor spun around and saw a familiar, slight figure.

"Hello, Th—" began Loki Laufeyson.

There was a sound like a rock hitting a piece of meat.

"Ow! Ooaawww! By dose!"

"I should kill you now, _brother_," Thor growled, picking up Mjollnir. "How dare you enter my home again? What are your plans now? Do you have thoughts of taking away Magni, or Thrud?"

"Doe!" Loki protested, cupping his hands over his face.

"Why did you take Modi from us!"

A long silence.

"I plan to start by breaking both your arms," Thor said.

"I'b sorry!"

"_Sorry _doesn't help!"

"I wanted subwud to keep Dari safe! I dew Vali ad Sigyn would leave hib, and dat was why I took - It was wrogg of be! _I'b sorry_!"

Thor paused.

_Nari, _Thor thought. _Poor Nari_.

His fingers tightened a little on the handle of Mjollnir. Nari and Loki's faces blended together in his mind.

"You took Modi so that we would want Nari as a replacement?" he demanded.

"Doe! Yes! I-"

"We would have taken Nari anyway."

Loki stared at him.

Thor released him. "You've two seconds to live unless you get out of here."

"You would have taked Dari anyway?" Loki asked, bewilddered.

"He's my nephew," Thor said.

"Oh," he said. "I'b sorry—I'b goig to go get sub ice— . . ."

There was a flash of green light. When Thor's eyes cleared, Loki was gone.

Thor ran to check on his family.

Bragmir's new bed was empty.

Thor panicked.

"Modi!" he shouted, rushing through the halls. "Modi!"

For a second it was fifteen years ago, and Jane was huddled over a half-empty crib while Heimdall searched endlessly.

Then one of the guards called, "He's over here, majesty!" and Thor turned out onto one of the wide terraces and found Bragmir lying on his back with the bearskin in his arms.

Thor leaned against a pillar, taking deep breaths. He couldn't get his voice to work. "What . . . what are you doing out here? I—thought Loki had—"

Bragmir tilted his head to see him. "I want to go home."

"You are home," Thor said firmly, finally finding his composure.

"I can't go back, can I?" Bragmir asked.

Thor was totally at a loss for what the boy was talking about. Then he saw the way his son was clutching the skin of the ice bear, like a child's blanket.

"To Jotunheim? Well—"

"My mother's there. I mean, my foster mother. I can't just leave her."

Thor leaned heavily on the pillar.

"Of course you can't," he said. Curse it all, curse Loki and his stupid evil jokes, curse the woman who had usurped Jane's place and the world that had usurped Asgard's place in Modi's mind.

There was a long silence.

"Come on," Thor said, catching Bragmir's hand and pulling him up.

"What's wrong?"

"Loki got in here earlier. I want to be sure where everyone is." Thor pulled him inside, to Magni's room.

"Hmm?" Magni sat up, blinking in the flare of torchlight. "Whssamatter?"

"Come on," Thor said. He rolled Magni out of bed and took them to check on Jane and Thrud.

"Still sleepy," Thrud said grumpily.

"Thor, what's going on?" groaned Jane.

Thor shut the door and wedged Mjollnir against it. He sat down on the side of the bed and took Jane's hand.

"I just wanted to . . . to check on everyone. That's all."

"Can we go back to bed now?" moaned Magni.

"We're all staying in here tonight," Thor said. "Here, take the spare blanket."

They needed a Loki-proof security system, he thought.

Magni balled up at the foot of the huge bed. He and Thrud both went back to sleep quickly.

Jane hesitated and then ran her hand gently through Bragmir's hair. He jumped a little and then settled back.

"I missed you," she said sleepily.

Thor and Bragmir glanced at each other.

-n-n-n-n-

_Well, I'm winding up the story now. There should be at least one more chapter._

_In the meantime – Happy Thanksgiving!_

_**Magni**: You do realize we don't celebrate Thanksgiving on Asgard._

_I was talking to the readers, not to you._

_**Hildy: **Hello, readers! Remember what I said about review—mmphh!_

_**Magni: **Hush, Hildy. Happy Thanksgiving, Midgardian readers._


	22. The Lady on the Shore

_Thank you, Solar Surfer and Resisting the Borg, for reviewing. And here we have the final chapter._

-n-n-n-n-

"Here we are – Asgard! Ah, it's good to be home!"

A familiar blond man with an elaborately styled moustache strode out of the observatory. A pair of pretty elf girls leaned on his arms, pretending to still be dizzy after their ride on the Bifrost.

"Is it _really_ true that you're the second-in-command of all the Realm, Fandral?" One giggled.

"Of course!"

"And that you have carpets of jewels?" the other piped up. "And a caged fire demon to cook the food?"

"Umm—" Fandral was just beginning to realize that he was going to have to make good on all his boasts. Then he caught sight of smoke rising, rising to block the dawn over the city.

"What's going on?" he asked, startled. He turned around so fast that one of the elves lost her balance and fell flat on her face. "Heimdall, what's happened?"

"It seems your pleasure trip has lasted longer than expected," said Heimdall from the doorway. Only now did Fandral notice the battered marks on his armor.

"Fandral, what's happened?" asked one of the elves, peevishly. "I thought we were going to visit all the palaces."

"I think there's been a change of plans," said Fandral, with wide eyes.

-n-n-n-n-

Jane sat at her laptop, going through her e-mail. After the Asgardian healers had arrived, Darcy had gone home. She'd sent three e-mails during the night. The first was to check on Nari's health. The second was to say, "Why haven't you written back yet? Hurry up hurry up hurry up!"

The third had the results of the DNA test attached to it.

At first Jane didn't remember what it was for. Then she remembered the trip to Midgard, and Darcy's suggestion. Before they'd been sure. Before Bragmir's curse had been broken. They still didn't know how it had been broken, or why, or if it would come back. She suspected Nari had something to do with it. But he was asleep, after a long, long night of struggling for life.

Her mouse hovered over the attachment.

Did she really need to open it?

-n-n-n-n-

Magni, Hildy, and Ull took Bragmir and Thrud down to the beach that morning. Their favorite seaside bench was gone and the sand was strewn with debris. Bragmir carried the bearskin bundled under his arm.

"What's that for?" Ull asked.

"I have to return it to someone in Jotunheim."

"Oh."

"Father says we'll have a feast just as soon as Nari is better," Magni said. He picked up a fallen tree, its bark smoothed away by the water, and threw it out to sea. It made a tiny splash far off on the horizon.

Thrud watched Magni carefully, and then picked up a pebble.

"Dah!" she yelled, whipping her arm in the general direction of the water. The pebble landed in the sand at her feet.

Bragmir was fascinated by the water. He ran a hand through the tide and then licked his fingers.

"Ugh!"

"You're not supposed to drink it," Ull said.

"After the feast," Hildy said, "I suppose everything will be back to normal. People getting into brawls and all that. Delegations visiting. The Valkyries getting in trouble for feeding their horses before air patrols."

"Oh, yes," Magni said. "_Normal_."

"We can teach you archery and swordplay, Bragmir," Ull said excitedly.

"But I don't want to learn archery and swordplay."

"But you have to. They're . . . princely things to do. Like meeting foreign princesses."

Hildy groaned loudly. "_Must _we bring that up again?"

"We've been through the chain of command, correct?" Magni asked. "When Father moves on, as the Allfather did, one of us will be king and the other—"

Bragmir was watching a woman standing farther up, near the wreckage of the bench.

"Who's that?" he asked, pointing.

The others hardly spared her a glance. "Oh, that's Skadi. She used to be a frost giantess."

"She looks sad."

"She and her husband live by the beach and take trips to the mountains," Magni said. "You know, so she can be around snow. She misses Jotunheim."

"You have snow here?" Bragmir said longingly.

"Oh, yes, sure," Hildy said.

"My father said if we survived, we'd take a family ski trip," Ull said. "And we did, so presumably we will."

Bragmir turned and looked at them, eyes alight with memories.

"And can I bring Fasolt and Sfiera and my moth—my foster mother to visit?"

Magni shrugged grandly. "If you want. Just ask Father first."

Bragmir faced away from them again. He looked down at his hand—pink and warm.

"This might not be half bad," he said.

"What do you mean?" Hildy asked. "Don't you want to stay in Asgard, Bragmir?"

He spoke before he realized what he was going to say.

"My name's Modi."

-n-n-n-n-

Nari opened his eyes. On one side, flowers from Hildy sat in Ull's favorite mug. On the other side, Loki was reading a book while holding a sack of ice over his nose.

Nari opened his mouth and tried to speak.

"Shh-sh," said Loki. "Dode bide be."

"You came . . ." Nari croaked.

"Juss visitig. You cad go bag to sleep." Loki turned the page and readjusted the ice sack.

Nari closed his eyes and pretended to go to sleep, but for a long time he simply lay there awake, enjoying having his father back. Even if it was only for a little while.

THE END

_Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! I will probably be taking a break from writing fanfiction after this, but I'll be back sooner or later._


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